


Halloween Shorts(31 Days of Writober)

by XBlackMambaX



Series: Halloween October Shorts(31 Days of Writober) [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Aliens, Anthology, Apocalypse, Blood, Creepy things, DDR, DID awareness, Dancing, Death, Desert, F/M, Ghosts, Gods, Halloween, Heated fluffyness, Horror, M/M, Major character death - Freeform, Mental Illness Awareness, Monster Boys, Multi, Navajo boys, OOC, Out of Character, Predeveloped Shadam, Predeveloped sheith, SHEITH - Freeform, Shadam, Sheith au, Skeletons, Spoopy Month, Trauma, Trigger Warnings, Writober, You Have Been Warned, Zombies, allurance, bartender boys, decomposing bodies, gore-y, no cars were harmed in the making of this series, pranks gone wrong, severe gore, severe graphic content, sexual innuendo, sheith boys being cute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2020-11-23 05:56:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 34,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20887232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XBlackMambaX/pseuds/XBlackMambaX
Summary: In these 31 October Horror shorts, characters will be challenged, face obstacles, and most important of all, be scared. All of these shorts are going to be rated E for explicit content, so do be aware of what you are reading, and of course, enjoy.There is no sexual content in this series. There is lots of fluffiness, though, and some mild nudity. Be warned.The content may be disturbing to some readers. Please be advised.





	1. The Invasion(Set to Destroy)

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: gore, blood, death, adult themes, violence, swearing, NSFW
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in these stories or the plots or anything used, but the ideas for the shorts are mine. I use the characters without permission, but for no gain, only for fun to share with everyone. Some of the stories are based exactly/roughly on current movies or themes, and others I created purely from my own imagination. Each chapter will be credited accordingly. 
> 
> Today's work was inspired in part by the movie Cloverfield. It wasn't a great movie, but I thoroughly enjoyed 10 Cloverfield Lane and very highly recommend it to anyone and everyone who wants to watch a really good mind-screw psychedelic movie.
> 
> This chapter is all about the aliens and invading of the planet Earth.

Gloomy clouds floated through calm, cool nights skies awash with blues, greens, pinks, purples, and greys, making for a beautiful evening sky. Down below, the beautiful, glistening city was bustling with people coming out of work from the long day or going into their graveyard shifts ahead, with people shopping-talking and gossiping as they held big, bulky bags of clothes or purses or trinkets or accessories in their arms. Others sat down at a restaurant here or there for a bite to eat, but one building, in particular, was awash with a light gathering, standing out over the rest of the beautiful city with lust for such a sight.

Adam let out a sigh through his nose, enjoying the scene before him to the fullest extent he could from the newly-refurbished balcony of his penthouse before his fiancé came out to persuade him back inside. The chilled glass of champagne in his hand bubbled and trickled against the glass, sending vibrations through Adam's fingers to remind him he was holding something so he wouldn't drop it in distraction of the view.

"Adam," a voice called from behind him, but Adam didn't respond. He closed his eyes instead and let the wind blow back the hair from his face. It was such a soothing feeling, as if the gorgeous spirit of the earth was caressing his cheeks and petting his head with such a love for her child.

"Adam," Shiro called again and wrapped his toned, strong arms around his fiancé. "Let's go inside, love. You have forever to gaze at this view of the city. We don't have a lot of time left before our friends have to leave the city," he said.

'Your friends,' Adam corrected in his mind. He didn't argue that fact aloud though. Adam turned his head from the image before him and instead walked inside with Shiro, but he felt some sort of strange urge behind him. He glanced back behind him, and oddly, found a strange-shaped cloud formed in the sky. It disappeared when he blinked, though, so he just dismissed it to his imagination. Inside, low music played, and the group standing together in the living room of the penthouse got louder when they saw Adam walk up.

"Why don't we move to the table?" Shiro suggested, attempting too hard to play the gracious host. "I'll get more champagne from the kitchen and we can talk."

It worked, though, and the group migrated to the long, thick cherry oak table to sit and talk. Shiro came back from his trip to the kitchen and filled emptied glasses with sparkling strawberry champagne as the conversation picked up again.

"So, Adam," Lance started to speak at him first, and Adam nervously clutched his fiancé's hand under the table for comfort. Shiro smiled and gave Adam a gentle squeeze back to reassure him as Lance continued. "It's about time one of you finally up and proposed. What's it been, like 20 years?" By his playful tone, Adam could tell he was joking, but he had to lick his nervous, dry lips wet again before he replied.

"Six," he said, surprisingly smooth and without a stutter this time. Shiro used his free hand to massage Adam's thigh under the table, and Adam relaxed under the calming touch of his fiancé.

"Wow, six years. Hey, that's almost as old as you, Mullet," Lance teased Keith with a playful punch in the arm, to which Keith returned, but not so playfully. Keith's fist landed square on Lance's arm and nearly knocked him out of his seat at that. In doing so, however, it landed Keith a sharp smack upside the head from Allura, who also glared at Lance to warn him he was next if he dared misbehave again. A second later, she smiled politely at Adam and Shiro though and then asked to use the restroom.

"I don't mean to be a bother, but might I use your lavatory to freshen up?" She asked in her thick, London accent, and Shiro got up to show her. "Yeah," he said with a nod, "this way."

The two left the room silently after that, but the group wasn't quiet for long. Pidge was the first one to speak after that.

"Seems like you guys have a pretty nice view of the city," she said to break the building tension coming from Keith's hard glare at Lance. Lance hid the small smirk wanting to form on his lips, knowing full and well how to piss Keith off now.

"Y-yeah, we were really lucky to get this complex," he stuttered out, then mentally cursed himself for the stupid trip of his tongue. This time, though, he didn't have Shiro's comforting hand to grip tightly in his. The room went silent for a minute, and the only sounds in the penthouse were coming from the footsteps of Shiro's padded feet down the hall. Seemingly out of nowhere though, Keith snarled some unheard threat to Lance, and the next thing Adam knew, the two were in a tangled heap on the floor, with Keith's hands around Lance's neck.

"Keith-!" Shiro's enraged voice echoed in the room a bit as he ran to separate the two from each other. Adam helped, and as Shiro pried Keith off of Lance and into his lap, Adam pulled Lance into his arms and turned his body to stand between Keith and Lance. Shiro, however, was obviously pissed. He detained Keith and pressed his bulging arms tight against Keith's chest to keep him from getting free and attacking Lance again. He couldn't believe how his best friend could act like this at a moment like this, in front of his fiancé. It wasn't unlike Keith, but it wasn't exactly like him either. Something had to have really provoked him.

Lance panted heavily and coughed at the rasp he found in his throat, but otherwise, he was just shaken up. Adam checked his throat for bruising; there'd surely be some after how hard Keith throttled him.

But none of the group expected the blood-curdling scream that ripped from Allura's throat.

The group all followed Allura's shaking finger to the living-room window of the penthouse, and there, on the horizon, was the strange cloud Adam had gotten a glance of earlier in the evening, but this time, it was pitch black. It was massive, too-so big it took up half the upper north side of town where it sat.

Words failed Adam, and he didn't know who, but someone screamed "get down", and the next thing he knew, Adam was on the floor under the cherry oak table with something thick and heavy above him, shielding his body from the impending events. A bright, white light like they speak about when you die blinded him then, even though his eyes were shut tight and a sonic-like sound unlike anything Adam had ever heard in his life blew out his eardrums and everything within a 30-mile radius of the strange cloud. Once the ringing in Adam's ears subsided and faded away, he could hear his fiancé's friends coughing desperately around him, and Hunk and Lance were panicking.

"What was that!?" Hunk cried out, looking like he was about to throw up once more from how queasy the blast made him.

"I don't know, pero carájo, it can't be good," he said, and Pidge muttered something.

"What, Pidge?" Adam asked, and he was horrified when she answered.

"Aliens," she whimpered, her whole body trembling. "Aliens..."

The large, strange black cloud in the distance suddenly shifted another 16 miles to the northeast in the blink of an eye, and another white light emerged to boom in the distance, but this time, was a bit less severe and didn't leave Adam deaf and blind and reeling from the intensity. He was pretty sure the last blast made his heart skip a beat.

Adam instinctively latched onto his fiancee's wrist, clutching it in a bone-crushing vice grip. His anxiety was through the roof now, and from the way Shiro's watch beeped at them both and his heartbeat thrummed in his wrist, it was safe to guess Shiro was about to have an attack too. The trained-military Major gathered his thoughts quickly, and to keep from alarming the love of his life, forced his face to go steel cold blank.

Entire buildings below shook and rumbled and some unlucky few that were too close to the object were completely incinerated in less than a second. It was as if something had zapped the area with a laser gun out of a cheesy old 70s cartoon, but this was real, and it terrified the citizens that lived to see the event happen. Even the group currently in the penthouse entire blocks away collapsed to their feet from the shake that erupted through the building just then-and Pidge explained just a moment later.

"We must be sitting on a tectonic plate," she said, "and the sonic blasts from whatever the hell that giant thing in the sky is is shifting it and rocking it out of place. It's only a matter of minutes before that thing causes an earthquake big enough to sink the entire city underground or causes a tsunami big enough to submerge us, or both."

"Then running very very far away is presumably the best thing to do, right?" Hunk asked, and Pidge nodded rapidly. "It may have only been a minute, but I think it's safe to assume that this thing only wants the largely populated areas with the most people. If we jump in the car and all go to the country area, we're less likely to be attacked."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Shiro asked rhetorically, "we need to move." And then the group was on their feet and out the door in seconds.

Shiro made sure to grab his car keys and both his and Adam's wallets first as they hurried out the door, knowing full and well there would already be military checkpoints and they would need their IDs to get out of the city. As they were leaving, however, another ear-deafening blast shook and rumbled the building hard enough to throw the group off their feet. Adam, through his own bad luck, fell over the railing down the fire escape they used and felt the wind knocked out of him as he hit the ground below hard. His head spun and his vision blurred out of focus, and something warm and wet stung his eye horribly. Blood. Adam didn't need his EMS license to know that he probably sustained a severe concussion and most likely cracked his skull open.

"Adam!" Lance cried out, and when the shaking stopped, Lance raced down the stairs to help him, urging Shiro to follow. Shiro was currently preoccupied, however, as during the shaking of the building, Keith was thrown into his arms and they both up against the wall, leaning so that Keith had Shiro pressed by his back against the wall. Keith's hands slid slowly up Shiro's tight, muscular chest, and for a brief moment, sparkling amethyst met cloudy grey, and the two's lips were mere centimeters apart. Keith's heart pounded in his chest as the heat rose to his cheeks, and he swallowed hard, trying to will his feelings away. Now was not the time for that.

Adam hid the pang of jealousy he felt at watching the way Shiro looked at Keith at that moment, and instead accepted Lance's generous hand to get to his feet. It was probably a bad idea to move him too much because of his head injury, but they didn't have much of a choice if he didn't want to die painfully in what he could only assume would be something like a nuclear blast.

Adam was just about to clear his throat then, but the black cloud had gotten closer because the fourth blast from said object threw them all on the ground and had the group of friends covering their ears and closing their eyes tightly this time. As soon as it stopped, though, Shiro fought to get back on his feet and started yelling over the ringing of everyone's ears from the loud blast.

"Everyone, start moving! We gotta go; this thing is getting closer! Stay close together!" he shouted, and this time, when the ringing cleared away, they could hear the loud sounds of people screaming and car alarms wailing in the apartments below them, the most desperate and panicking of the masses trying to get out of the building before it gave way. The fire escape would surely be clogged in just a matter of seconds at this point. "Find a partner to hold hands with, so if you get lost, you're not alone!"

Keith instantly snatched up Shiro's hand just then, feeling unsteady and queasy himself until Shiro smiled down at him reassuringly and squeezed his hand back. Keith calmed visibly, his expression softening and going lax at Shiro's smile. Keith's eyes fell once more on Shiro's lips, then, and lingered for only a moment until there was another, shorter blast. This one, though, was thankfully far enough away that it didn't disturb the nearby area too much. Shiro snapped out of it when he heard Lance shouting about Adam being hurt, however.

"Shiro!" Lance called, "Adam's bleeding; we need to get him help, right away!"

Shiro let go of Keith's hand then to rush over to Adam's side and scoop his fiancee into his arms easily. "Hey," Shiro whispered into his ear, "you're okay. I'm right here. It's okay."

Adam lightly pushed up against his fiancee's tight, firm chest out of protest, trying to mumble about how he was fine and he could walk with no problem. He was too weak to climb out of his Japanese lover's arms, though, and he knew that was a bad sign. That, accompained with the growing headache, dizziness, and nausea made for a perfect cocktail of subarachnoid hemorraging. They'd need a doctor, and fast.

The group immediately heard another blast, but this one was way in the distance, and Hunk spoke up for the first time since they'd reached the fire escape. "We gotta go," he said, "we gotta run and get out of here if we're going to get to safety, much less out of the building. We can't take a car. We'll get stuck in traffic or blown up by that...that thing in the sky. What's the nearest, safest place to hide for now while we're under attack?"

"Actually," Pidge answered, "there are multiple 'safe zones' the government built in case of emergencies like this-"

"Don't they just go underground in the movies?" Keith interrupted, and Pidge shrugged. "I guess we could, but-"

"Then let's go. We're wasting time here," he interrupted again, and Allura chimed in. "Let's hurry then. To the subways? Is that the safest underground place?" she asked, and Pidge tapped her lip. "I don't know," she said. "It's bound to be overcrowded with people who had similar ideas."

"5th street," Shiro said, "5th street and central is crossways that's been shut down for some time. It's dangerous, and it'll be hard to get in to since it's been cut off from the public, but will likely be empty. It's been abandoned."

Shiro kissed Adam's lips softly, then his forehead softly, and his cheeks and nose with just as much care. Keith looked away, trying to suppress the urge to fantasize what it might be like to be in Adam's shoes right then and be kissed by Shiro so tentatively.

Keith suddenly tensed up. He didn't register how they all started quickly migrating downstairs to get out of the building and find the subways, he felt too guilty. It was his fault that Shiro got distracted and now Adam was probably seriously injured. Scratch that. Definitely injured. The fact that Shiro didn't point it out or rub it in his face, though, made the pain of the guilt even worse for Keith. He unconsciously squeezed Lance's hand, craving comfort from his friend in that moment more than he ever felt he might need from Lance, only because he needed reassurance that everything was going to be okay.

Hunk glanced over at Shiro and Adam, then back at Pidge worriedly, and spoke again for the second time in the stairwell. "You think we'll be alright?" he asked Pidge. "What are our chances of getting out of this...if it is, a...y'know…" He hinted at the words, not exactly wanting to say the words "alien invasion". He didn't want to seem crazy, and saying that they were being attacked by aliens sounded outright crazy. Pidge seemed to understand, though, and despite how crazy he sounded, she validated her best friend.

"I'm not going to lie," she answered in a voice too low for anyone but Hunk to hear. "not very high."

Shiro held Adam close to him as they hurried down the stairs, careful not to move too much too quickly so as not to make Adam uncomfortable or worsen his injury. "Baby," Shiro whispered softly into Adam's ear, "come here. Follow my voice. Stay with me, please, my love. Stay with me. It's gonna be okay."

"I'm sorry," mumbled Adam through his nausea and pounding headache. it had spread through his head and to his forehead by now, so he barely registered Shiro's kisses.

Shiro kissed Adam again. "Stop," he smiled, "it's not your fault. We'll get you help, okay? Just hang tight."

Keith moved closer to Lance, a gesture to show he was grateful for Lance's support when he needed it. He felt like utter shit for being so selfish with Shiro, and when Lance smiled back at him and squeezed his friend's hand reassuringly, Keith felt a little bit better.

Soon, the group was able to make it outside of the building, but when they did, the streets were an utter disaster. Cars were upturned and horns were shrieking desperately in alarm, begging their drivers to return to dispel them. The ground rumbled lightly beneath their feet, causing the group of friends to possibly believe the ground might actually crumble underneath them any second now. People ahead of them ran and screamed for their lives, while others looted and ran wild to take cover and find decent shelter.

"The end of days is here!" One homeless man shrieked at the top of his lungs. "you were warned! Now run for your lives and watch your loved ones disappear!"

Allura turned to vomit into the gutter just then, and Keith let go of Lance for a split second to catch Allura and comfort her before she could fall over, but it was a split second too long. Behind them, a black Lexus growled to life, and screeched in agony as its' tires burned rubber to jet off in the group's direction.

Hunk grabbed Pidge out of the way just in time, and Shiro managed to jump to the curb and narrowly avoid being hit or risking Adam getting hit or risking Adam getting hit, but Lance wasn't so lucky. The car swerved and drifted out of control, knocking Lance with the driver's side hard enough to throw him off his feet and scrape up his feet and leg bad enough that he couldn't stand. Keith froze in horror, and couldn't believe what he'd just seen. As if the guilt with Shiro wasn't bad enough, he just HAD to let go of Lance's hand. He just had to. Now another one of his best friends was hurt. Had he not, had Keith actually held onto Lance like he was supposed to, he could've yanked Lance out of the way of the oncoming car in time, but he hadn't. He'd fucking let go.

Lance's body went flying as if he weighed nothing, throwing him in a spiral onto the asphalt like he was a rag doll. He laid on the curb for a moment, the adrenaline leaving his body only to be replaced instantly with pain. It was absolutely excruciating, bleeding him of all of his nerves and senses and flooding his brain with the registering of the hurt. He would have fainted by now in any other situation, but he needed to live here. He wasn't going to die in an alien invasion to a car accident. That'd be just pathetic.

Lance lay on the road, tears freely rolling down his cheeks now as he forced himself to sit up and force the panic attack that was induced by the injury down. He let out a cry of bloody murder at the realization of how badly his leg was really messed up, and he believed briefly that he was going to die right there of an infection or worse. Adam, however, was quick to hop out of Shiro's arms and run to Lance's side, the adrenaline from the shock now blocking any pain or nausea Adam was previously feeling. "We need to get someplace safe, now! No more mucking around! Lance needs help!"

Keith held Allura in his arms, making sure she'd be okay to get up and run on her own when they took off into the street towards the subways, and she reassured him she was fine. Shiro, though, wasn't too happy about Adam about being up on his feet and running around stressing over others like the selfless person he was. He knew it was the paramedic in his future husband reacting, and it made his heart constrict painfully. "No, Adam, come here. You need to relax. Calm down. You're injured, too, and you need to settle down before you pass out and I lose you for good. Please."

Hunk picked up Lance easily from Adam's arms, making sure to hold him with care since Lance had obvious road rash. Shiro extended his arms to Adam then, looking at him with a desperate, silent plea on his lips.

Keith suddenly gasped and pulled his phone out. "I know someone!" he said rapidly, "a doctor in the military. he was my Sergeant in the Corps. He'll help patch Lance up and figure out how to help Adam. He can meet us in the subway, but we have to move fast."

Shiro nodded then, and the group got ready to run. "Let's go, then. We'll meet him there, and make it to the subway together to wait this thing out until we can get to the country."

The group moved fast on their feet then, none of them stopping until they got to the subway to all catch their breath. With a quick phone call and the tearing of his and Shiro's long sleeves, they were able to set some wounds, and get the help they needed. No one would die, for now.


	2. I Can Drive You Insane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's after hours at The Bar, an ironically-named bar that Shiro is closing up. Not so ironically, there is a strange shadow playing hide and seek with Shiro around the bar, until finally, Shiro finds out there is something dark and yet so familiar about this shadow. Never go chasing what you can't see.
> 
> Warning: gore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do want to warn even though I know I already did in the beginning but there is going to be major character death in this short episode. I mean, without bloodshed, it's not a Halloween Horror Short.

Soft EDM vibrated through the dark, empty walls of the bar so known as The Bar, a name put to ironic usage for this particular club. Sparkling rave-lke lights of every bright neon color flashed and roamed the desolate dance floor, strobing over propped-up chairs and freshly-cleaned tables. The Bar was all dead and empty for now, with only two people left finishing the dishes left in the bar sink. How to overuse an ironic name for such an ironic place? Name it after exactly what it was and intended to be. It was known as such for a reason though, and that reason being the quality kind of entertainment The Bar provided. 

Shiro cracked open the back door with a soft grunt, and propped it open with a swift little kick of a ripping stopper wedged between door and door frame. "Drive safely. See you tomorrow night," he said with a polite smile to the dancer he walked to her car, and after a gentle push of her door shutting tight, Shiro felt confident to return inside The Bar and finish cleaning up. He stopped at the back door when he noticed the rubber stopper had shifted a bit in position, causing it to give way more and rip, but Shiro just wrote it off as the old stopper giving in to the weight of the metal door, and shoved the little piece into the trash with a shrug. 

Shiro suppressed a yawn he felt pushing its' way up his chest, and stooped to pick up the last glass at the bottom of the sink and rinse it off quickly. This meant he could go home to his fiancee and finally get some rest after such a long and busy night, which he would gladly admit he was happy to do. 

He shut off the sink water with a gentle squeak and a hiss of the faucet, but an added shuffling noise at the end gave him turn to pause. The sink had never made that sound before, and for a split second, Shiro thought he must've been so tired, he imagined the noise, until it happened again. He whirled around and searched through the darkness in case he missed a patron that fell unconscious in the bathroom, or maybe another dancer that got held up in the changing room. When he stole a lasting glance around the dark bar and dance floor, though, he didn't find any signs that anyone had been around, or stumbled over something. 

"I'm sorry, there, but we're closed for the night! If you can step out where I can see you, I can help you outside and hail a taxi!" he called into the darkness, but there was no response. He frowned and almost dismissed the noise again, but this time, he was sure he saw somebody dive quickly behind a table in the middle of the room. 

"Alright, this isn't funny," Shiro shouted once more, and with a quick thumb, he unlocked the vault sitting just underneath the cash register and pulled out a sleek, ebony black Baretta .45. "if someone is out there playing a prank or something, come out now slowly."

Not a single sound resonated for the next twenty minutes as Shiro carefully scanned the entire building, and double-checked to make sure every single door and window was shut and locked. It had to be some kind of hallucination he was having. He remembered reading about them in college, when he studied psychology, because the only reason he paid any attention in that class was to impress the brunette beauty that would be the love of his life. Lack of sleep could cause visual and auditory hallucinations, but Shiro wasn't sure he was hallucinating. It had felt really real, and he was so sure he had seen and heard something. But that's how hallucinations worked, right?

Shiro sighed to himself through his nose, and set the hammer back into its' resting spot with the safety pulled back on on the gun to make sure it didn't go off as he unloaded it. Pointing it carefully at the ground away from him, he cocked the chamber, and as the slow-motion clink of the bullet connected with the ground, a chair that had been propped up upside down on a table knocked over. 

In a matter of seconds, Shiro shoved the magazine back into the empty slot in the handle of the gun, and the hammer was back faster than he could point it in the direction of the fallen chair. "Last chance!" he announced, "come out now!"

A shadow raised slowly from behind a table, and Shiro held the gun pointed at the figure as he backed steadily into the flashing lights of the neons waving above his head. "Into the light, nice and slow. That's it."

"You're not going to shoot me with that, are you, Takashi?" 

The voice and casual usage of his first name sent Shiro reeling, unable to catch himself as he staggered into the wall. He shoulder blades collided with the hard drywall first, sending a dull shock up and down his spine. That was nothing compared to the utter horror he felt when the figure stepped into the light. 

Even-toned caramel skin came into view first, and then Shiro noticed the pale, distorted bits that made the stranger's condition appear to be a case of vitiligo until Shiro noticed the pale portions were warped, as if the skin was scarred from being burned. Grey storms of clouds met with mismatched green and light blue, and the stranger continued moving forward to show Shiro his full face, only partially blocked by brown hair. 

"Adam," Shiro blurted out, pure shock overtaking his tone. He was no longer holding up the gun; he had lowered it and dropped the hammer carefully when he connected with Adam's eyes. He had to make sure it really was him; Shiro studied carefully where discolored, scarred skin ran down the left half of Adam's body, hidden by a black shirt that was tucked carefully into dark colored jeans, where no more of the beautiful but horrible skin was allowed into view. 

"Surprised to see me?" Adam asked, but Shiro was unable to answer, just as he'd expected. "I thought so."

"Wh-what happened?" Shiro stuttered, barely able to even form those two little words. 

"What does it look like? I burned alive, Shiro."

"No.."

"Yesss," Adam hissed with a bit more fervour this time, and inched closer to Shiro to reveal the knife his scarred left hand had blocked from view, tucked back against his arm. 

"I'm sorry," Shiro whispered out, and just as Adam raised his left hand and opened his mouth to say something more, Shiro reacted. Faster than either of them could register what was happening, Shiro raised the gun and shot Adam straight in the chest, a deadly blow that would make sure Adam didn't get closer. 

"Fuck!" a voice came from the other side of the counter, and a familiar teen with dark hair tied back in a ponytail and bright lavender eyes ran out to Adam's side, trying to apply pressure to his wound to stop the bleeding. 

"Keith!?" Shiro shrieked as he slid on his knees next to his partner. "what the hell!?"

"It was supposed to be a fucking prank!" Keith growled, "the burned skin is liquid latex! Why in the fuck would you shoot him, Shiro!?"

Adam hissed in pain as he was shifted into Shiro's lap, and the elder of the two was already dialing for an ambulance on the phone. 

"He had a fucking knife in his hand!" Shiro snapped back, "why would you play such a sick prank!?"

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Shiro sighed heavily in relief as the paramedic finished patching Adam up, making the brunette grumble out a pouty "ow" with the final secure tug of the bandage wrapped over his bullet wound. 

"I'm so sorry," Shiro apologized as he took hold of Adam's good hand, and his partner squeezed his hand and hummed in response. "Partially at fault here," he answered, "as the responsible adult, I should've known better than to let Keith convince me to pull such a stupid prank."

"It's alright. I reacted too harshly. You guys got me good though. Getting in after I left through the back door was pretty good. Shuffling the furniture around was pretty creative, too."

"Shiro, we didn't enter through the back door. The dancer you escorted out let us in through the front and we hid in the bathroom until you started shouting. That's when we came out because we assumed you had caught us."

"You were in the bathroom the whole time?"

"Yes, love. The whole time. We were shocked you didn't hear us laughing the whole time, honestly. We were being pretty loud."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun Facts for Your Benefit:
> 
> The Bar is a real place. It's the name of a bar in Fresno, California, and it's got a 4.2 rating on Yelp!
> 
> People who are blind don't actually always lose color in their eyes(which makes them go the signature pastel blue). Most people that go blind keep their eye color, they just lose control of their pupils(which can cause their eyes to either roll backwards most of the time, or just completely remain still, staring straight ahead.).
> 
> Adam is half African-American, half French. After much extensive studying, I've found that people with his most prominent features are that sort of mix. This is not canon, but this is my conclusion from hours of research.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------  
Yeah, I know it's kinda short, and definitely shorter than the last one, but I am way behind on Writober, the only challenge I took up for the month of October(because I had time for no challenges whatsoever, but if I had to pick one that was quick and easy, of course it was Writober). I work way too much right now to be able to catch up, unless I pull an all-nighter, which I'm hoping I can at least partially do to get a little bit caught up. Maybe I can get off work early tomorrow and between jobs, get some writing done. 
> 
> Until next time!


	3. Don't Fear Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is stumped by something he's found in his bedroom one night when he returns home to his dad's old house. But as he searches for answers, he's being visited by a strange man dressed oddly in what looks like something out of a horror movie.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was inspired by the song Don't Fear the Reaper and the Netflix show Chambers in combination. Instead of being from Texas in this AU, though, Keith is from Arizona, as the tribe he is part of primarily lived in Window Rock, Arizona. 
> 
> I do want to also remind that major character death is an active tag in this, though, and will be probably for the rest of the series. You have been warned.

Waves of heat from the day bore down heavily on the road and hung there, reminding all those that dare cross the road that they'd be cooked straight on the asphalt if they dared try to make it. In the middle, one unfortunate creature was evidence of such, but it made no difference to the vultures that surrounded it and picked at the meat of the rotting body. Not until rocks started to dance around the road did the vultures move aside from their lunch temporarily to let the Yamaha Ghost rev past. 

Keith adjusted his helmet a bit, trying to catch a deeper breath in the staunching heat inside his helmet. It was going into October and yet it was still triple digits in the middle of the morning, when it shouldn't be so easy to cook an egg on the asphalt. Keith felt like said egg right then, too, all decked in black and red and white motorcycle gear. At this rate, he'd probably cook faster than an egg would though. 

He shifted his foot a bit on the pedal on to get his stiff ankle to pop in his ghastly warm leather boots, and once his position was fixed, he loosened his grip on the throttle and let the engine of the Ghost roar in excitement as it turned even faster over the desolate road. Keith felt sorry for the picked-apart creature laying melted into the ground as he drove past it at a glance, but such was the life when living out in Window Rock, Arizona. 

It was where Keith had been born and raised, but it wasn't always where he'd experienced the best life. His mother was around for the first year of his life before she mysteriously vanished out of nowhere, and after that, his dad was around until Keith was 13, when he died in service during a fire. He had known his dad was half Korean, having been born in Window Rock as well, but having a dad from Seoul. Keith had no idea about his mother, however, until he found a strange-looking knife sitting on his bed in his bedroom at his dad's house. It was bright silver with a skeleton hand wrapped tightly around the black leather handle, a decoration he correctly assumed was glued on. Engraved in the blade of the knife were dozens of little symbols and animals, but they faded like a fog as they went up the blade. It was a beautiful piece, and clearly well-treasured to still be in such mint condition. 

Currently, the knife was sitting in his belt safely underneath his jacket, because he knew his purpose with it and exactly what it meant. He found out it was his mother's, and specifically, it was the last hint to Keith that she was alive and searching for him, which meant more to Keith, until he found out his mother was Navajo native. 

That had floored him. Keith had no idea, because before he found the pictures of his mother, he had no idea what she even looked like. She definitely looked the part when he saw her though. She had dark caramel skin, dark brown hair that was thick and to her shoulders, and bright amethyst eyes like Keith had, so he knew where he got that from. Her face was delicately curved, but her cheekbones were sharp as she was well-built, like a war soldier would be. After he noticed that, Keith briefly wondered if that was the cause of her disappearance. 

He didn't get the chance to learn anything more, and he was upset about it. He wanted to know, because that meant he could have answers to why his dad hid it all from him, and he could have answers about his mom and what being Navajo meant for him. It was more prominent than his Korean side, so he wanted to know more desparetly, though that didn't mean he'd ignore his heritage in any sense of the word. He imagined then what it would've been like to have been raised by both parents together. Would he have been raised with more Navajo prospects? Or would he have been equally raised with both heritages, eating Korean food his dad prepped every night for dinner as was their norm, but still practicing his Navajo beliefs?

He didn't want to think about that anymore, because it brought stinging tears to his eyes. Instead, he shook his head out, and tried to focus on the road ahead of him. For a brief moment, the road distracted him, until he saw a man at the end of the road just standing there. 

Keith jerked and skidded to a stop, tightening his grip on the throttle until the Ghost swerved to a stop just a few feet away from the man. Keith was able to get a good look at him now. This figure had been the dark side that came with the strange new knife; a figure that haunted him and watched him from afar. This time, though, Keith could see in great detail who the man was, and what he looked like. 

He had dark hair hidden under the skull of what looked like an antelope, with a tuft of white bangs that flowed out underneath the teeth of the antelope, which fell into cloudy grey skies of eyes. Soft, dark eyelashes fluttered a bit as the man looked Keith up and down, and Keith instinctively did the same. He had a sharp jaw and perfectly sculpted shoulders, and then Keith noticed he was shirtless. He stared at chiseled, hardened abs that had been covered in tattoos and scars alike, and down at the bit of wolf's fur around the man's collar and flowing down his back, ending at just above the ground. He was wearing similar-furry pants, but his feet were bare against the boiling ground. Keith was a bit shocked when he noticed that, and thought not even the most calloused of feet could possibly be able to stand standing on hot asphalt like that. This man was probably searing his feet just by standing there and not giving his feet temporarily relief by walking. 

"Who are you?" Keith decided to ask then, because this man was clearly something else. Instead of giving Keith an answer, though, he held his hand out to Keith, and Keith tensed visibly, but for some reason, was drawn to take the stranger's hand. He didn't feel fear or like he was in danger with this man, but he did sense something was chillingly off about him. 

So why was he so drawn to the beautiful man and so ready to take his hand?

Keith swallowed hard, and removed his helmet and jacket. He dropped both to the ground, and then undid his protective gear from his thighs and knees, dropping that to the ground as well until he was in a black t-shirt and dark grey jeans tucked securely into dark leather boots. He moved a bit closer to the man, and swore his hard expression turned into a small, soft smile. It had, and Keith slowly lifted his hand, feeling a bit more relaxed now. He had no idea what this man was doing to him, but faster than he could comprehend what he was doing, he rested his hand in the man's, and a voice echoed in his head. 

"Shiro," he breathed, and then the man whose name he'd learned and breathed through that single touch yanked him into a kiss that left Keith reeling. With that one kiss, Keith would learn the truth about everything. 

Waves of heat from the day bore down heavily on the road and hung there, reminding all those that dare cross the road that they'd be cooked straight on the asphalt if they dared try to make it. In the middle, one unfortunate creature was evidence of such, but it made no difference to the vultures that surrounded it and picked at the meat of the rotting body. Not until rocks started to dance around the road did the vultures move aside from their lunch temporarily to let the Yamaha Ghost rev past. 

Lance fumbled a bit with his helmet as it was uncomfortably tight on his jaw and ears, the padding having expanded in the heat uncomfortably inside. He slowed a bit when he passed by the rotting corpse on the edge of the road, however, and grit his teeth. The poor thing was definitely huge and appeared to have died in a horrible manner, but there was nothing Lance could do about what little the vultures had left behind. He released the throttle bit by bit instead, zooming ever faster and faster to get away from the heart-wrenching scene.

As soon as he looked back ahead to the road in front of him, Lance swerved to a stop, and took off his helmet to confirm he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. The Ghost rumbled in idle until Lance shut it off, and he stepped off his bike to walk towards the beautiful but strange man with hypnotizingly amethyst eyes in front of him. Raven locks flowed over his face, but didn't hide a deep scar jutting across his cheek nearly to his eye. Through the teeth of the antelope skull resting on his head, the man looked up at Lance, and held his hand out for the Cuban to take.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was really interesting to write because I learned some things I didn't really know about Navajo people. I'll list more in the fun facts part, but I do want to also mention a special thanks going out to my friend Rose for once again being my inspiration and my awesome muse. You help me be a better writer every single day. 
> 
> Time for the fun facts of the chapter!
> 
> Navajo people's central capitol for their reserve is Window Rock, Arizona. 
> 
> People who are not part of the tribe are actually not allowed to live on the Navajo Reserve, but you can definitely visit as a tourist. Just...be aware. Creepy things happen if you stay the night(according to a friend's experience, she saw shadows literally dancing outside her window all night, but she was in the second story of a two-story house, and they confirmed there was no trees or any cables or anything loose in front of the window.).
> 
> Keith's canon knife is indeed the knife that makes the cameo in this short. It's differently shaped and decorated, though. Look up knives with decoration on Google, and it's a similar style and build to the one with the eagles carved into it.


	4. A Nightmare Before Halloween

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith has an all-too familiar wartime nightmare, but this one gets way more gruesome and dark than normal. Rather than just being a memory from the past, it seems there's something else a bit off about the whole situation...but what could it be?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This particular chapter does not contain major character death, but there is violent scenes and minor character deaths. I would highly suggest anyone who is too squeamish with gore not read this chapter. Just skip right ahead.

Warm sunlight crept in from between cracked-open blackout curtains, drowning everything it could in its' reach with a rich, golden glow. That included blinding Keith until he was forced to bury his face in Shiro's bare, muscular chest. "Meef," Shiro mumbled against Keith's hair, "stop moving. I can't sleep if you move every five seconds."

"The damn sun's in my face," Keith grumbled, muffled against Shiro's chest. The Korean shifted once more then, deciding to nuzzle a slightly stubbled chin against Shiro's neck. Said Japanese man instantly giggled like a child in reaction, and shifted to playfully push his partner away. 

"Stop, that tickles!"

"Because somebody won't let me shave!"

"You look good with a shadow."

"It's been two months, Shiro. It's no longer considered a 5 o'clock shadow when I have a damn squirrel growing on my chin."

"But I like it. You look very Samurai Jack."

"I'm Korean."

"He's not?"

"Shiro, his prefix is "Samurai"."

"Yeah, but I always thought that was like an image thing. Y'know, like how rappers do the "Lil" thing before their stage name."

"Oh my gosh. Don't ever let Genndy Tartakovski ever hear you say that."

"Who's that?"

Keith let out a loud groan and rolled over to climb off the bed, letting the sunlight hit Shiro's face like a perfect diagonal strip, illuminating the silver in his eyes to turn a gentle gold. Shiro smiled sleepily to add to it all, and Keith couldn't resist climbing back in bed to squish Shiro's body between his own and the bed. 

The two spent the next thirteen minutes laying like that, kissing each other and smiling at each other, just enjoying the other's company. If it wasn't for the loud, deafening banging sound outside, neither would've moved at all. 

"What the hell!?" Keith heard Shiro shout out, but he was frozen in fear at what he saw outside from the crack in the curtains. It couldn't have really just happened, but seconds later, there was another one, zooming through the sky until it landed clear off in the distance but still close enough to rattle the house and send off the car alarms to their cars below. 

It was their worst fears come true. 

Shiro kicked off his feet to hop out of bed around Keith, and was opening their secret cabinet behind their library before Keith could pick up his shirt. He pulled the black, tight watersuit tee over his head and smoothly caught the M4 Carbine Shiro tossed at him in time to swing it over his shoulder and behind his back. 

Shiro pulled up his black cargo jeans and dropped several different clips into his numerous pockets, along with several packs of batteries, a map, a compass, and a carving knife. He then tossed a few clips in Keith's direction as the Korean finished buckling on his utility belt, and Keith slipped them into the pouch on either side of his belt. 

Both men then pulled their ballistic vests and their headsets on, securing their mics and tucking them properly into their vests. Keith grabbed two walkie talkies from the nightstand, and then the stack of cash and two 45. Barettas taped to the underneath of the nightstand table as Shiro secured his shoulder holsters into place with his two black glocks tucked safely inside. 

Neither said a word then as they both slipped their combat boots on and switched their radios on, which immediately picked up interference from nearby 911 calls. Keith was the first one to break the silence then. "Four more en route in our county," he said over the headset to Shiro. "standing by for coordinates. 34.0203463 degrees Southwest, -118.9722393 degrees West. Isn't that right within LA county?"

"Yes," Shiro answered flatly, despite the slightly alarmed tone of his lover. "stick to protocol."

"Yes'sir Captain. Standby for countdown. Coming in hot on your 6."

As Keith spoke, a group of four fully-geared bikers on Yamaha YZX R-6's sped up the long driveway to their front door, pulling up behind a suped-up Conquest Knight XV. With a click of the remote, the back window and tailgate popped open in opposite vertical directions, allowing the four bikes to drive up into the trunk of the massive vehicle as Keith and Shiro carried down boxes full of gasoline, food, water, and other supplies down the stairs of the house to the garage where they met the owners of the bikes with the reveal of their faces from behind their helmets. 

"Captain, we've gotten the call," one with light brown hair said, saluting Shiro until he nodded at her to stand at ease. "It's happening now. We have instructions to move out to a set of specific coordinates that I've already updated into the Knight's systems. We have about 17 minutes."

"Captain," another brunette, this one with darker hair, tanner skin, and freckles dotting his cheeks under oceanic-blue eyes spoke up. "we have a strategic advantage if we take the Northern route through semi-truck country. They'll most likely take said road during their escape, since the main roads will be backed up or blocked off with checkpoints."

Shiro nodded to both of them. "Thank you, Gunderson, McClain. We'll be taking the Northern route with the Knight then, and Kogane and Garrett can take the tracked route on the Ghosts in case they try to hide among the masses. Move out."  
________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Shiro pulled the shotgun out from underneath his seat and began to load it with shells from his pockets as Allura drove them silently through the semi roads of the back country of the 99. He would be totally ready this time if they caught those bastards, and make sure that they would pay for everything that they did. He didn't lose one love in vain. He wasn't going to let his partner's death be in vain. If he did, he wouldn't be able to survive much longer in this world. 

"Captain! Anomaly straight ahead headed this way!" Lance shouted over the headset. "it could be them! The target is small but moving quickly, so it's possibly a family of them moving in a vehicle towards us. Can't be bigger than half a ton."

Shiro snarled and punched the button for the sunroof of the vehicle, then hoisted himself up onto the roof of the car with the shotgun between his legs. Wind whipped his hair around his face and obstructed his view slightly, but he didn't let it break his focus. He shifted his legs forward and over the passenger's chair, to make sure when he got hit with the kickback of the shotgun, his aim wouldn't be too off. He had only one shot and then they were gone forever. 

Shiro let his breath out through his nose slowly and deeply, and when he saw the car approaching, it was such a small one, he didn't think he'd have a clear shot at first. "Point towards the air condenser between the filter and the power steering pump at a 20 degree angle and physics will do the rest for you, sir!" Pidge shouted up through the whistling wind to Shiro. He didn't hesitate to adjust his aim, despite his doubt that the bullet wouldn't just tire out the engine a few miles down the road when they'd get enough time to ditch the vehicle and run before Shiro and his team caught up. 

Miraculously, though, when Shiro saw the white-knuckle grip of the trembling driver vividly enough, he fired the shot, and the force of the double barrel bullet hitting the hood of the car was enough to tear through the hood of the car and shoot the driver in the foot, incapacitating him. With a screech of the tires, the driver swerved the vehicle offroad and into the grass on the sidelines, throwing the door open to get out and run for his life. He was too late, though, because Allura was already drifting carefully to a stop along the road near the car. 

A woman the same age as the man and four younger girls all piled out of the car with bags and backpacks in arm, speeding on foot into the orchards off the dangerous highway to hide from the eyes of the group chasing them. As soon as the man was able to reach the dirt at one corner of the orchard, though, Keith appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, drifting sideways towards the man so he could kick him onto his back away from the protection of the orchard. Hunk sped next to him, sliding to a stop in front of the women so they were blocked off from the safety of the orchard as well. 

Shiro signaled an "M" to Keith then, and without hesitation, Keith pulled out a knife and slit the throat of the man in front of his wife and daughters, causing them all to scream in horror. The man fell to his knees with a soft thud, and then on his side dead a second later with another thump. The women turned and counted their losses, the oldest of the daughters looking for a moment like she was debating running. Shiro put a bullet from his glock in her chest before she could even move, and the other women screamed once more. 

With three more quick shots to the head, the women were all dead on the ground, blood dying the grass like corn syrup. "Captain," Pidge called from the Knight. "there's a second group escaping about 7 miles East from our current location. If we move out now, we can catch and exterminate them as well."

Shiro nodded and turned, he and Lance both moving to the oversized truck to pack in and move out. Hunk moved towards his bike as well, but a slight movement in the corner of Keith's eye had his attention back towards the bodies on the ground. 

The oldest daughter reached out and pet her dead mother's cheek with a shaky hand as tears streamed down her paling cheeks, suppressing the sob that would surely break her chest. Keith sighed and put a bullet between her eyes, the only sign of life left the slight shake of her head from the force of the point-blank shot. 

Keith turned to climb on his bike and drive off after Hunk, but he noticed Shiro hesitating at the bottom step into the car. He knew these missions always got to Shiro no matter what these evil bastards did, because Shiro was a gentle soul, and hated revenge. But this was much more than just that. 

Shiro turned his head back to look at Keith for reassurance, and smiled when he found it in Keith's loving gaze. It only lasted a moment, though, because then, a small body climbed out from the smaller, wrecked car and shot Shiro right in the back through the chest.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Keith let out a blood-curdling scream as he jolted awake, waking the sleeping Shiro next to him with alarm. Hot tears streamed down Keith's cheeks as his breath came in hard rasps, the panic attack now settling in his bones from the vividness of the memory. 

"Hey," Shiro said softly. "another one? I told you you need to stop meditating before bed. It does nothing but fuel your nightmarish thoughts."

Keith shook his head rapidly. "No. I can't do that. Meditation is what keeps the nightmares at bay most of the time. I just didn't do it hard enough tonight."

"If you say so, my love. While I'm up, I'm going to get some water. Do you want some too?"

"Please."

"Of course."

Shiro got up out of bed and with a wave of his hand, the door of their bedroom slid open, then shut behind him as he left the room to get water. Keith sat up and took a deep breath, closing his eyes naturally. When they opened again, they were bright amber-red, highlighting the burning flames that started to lick at Keith's hands and arms. A deep snarl emitted from his throat, and his canines grew a bit to darken his wicked smile even more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so for those that are confused, reread the ending. It's fun to put together the fact that Shiro and the paladins were a team of military experiments that went rogue after the end of the world. 
> 
> The story was the military was taking in kids with no families and experimenting on them to make them super soldiers. The paladins all have their individual elemental powers, but they also have super-speed, super-strength, immortal healing abilities, and stamina to rival any machine. They eventually were released out into the public to await the missiles that would blow up the world, until the humans found out and hunted most of their kind down. As revenge, Shiro tracked down every one of the humans that was behind the murders of his fellow mutant brothers, and he and the other survivors plotted to kill all of them themselves before the bombs could. 
> 
> Fun Facts:
> 
> This chapter was inspired by an actual dream I had, and I was able to bring it to life after having dreamt it repeatedly one night not too long ago. 
> 
> The family that gets killed is actually inspired by the family Romanov. In my dream, they just appeared more modern-day dressed. 
> 
> Since I have voice control enabled, my laptop detected my sneeze in the middle of writing my fun facts and tried to Google the definition of a sneeze. 
> 
> Google the Conquest Knight XV. Firstly, that thing is so massively huge it makes the Hummer look like an Acura in comparison to itself. Secondly, what a beauty. Really. It is the ultimate dream vehicle. Totally armoured, fully-equipped camera system, and a freaking PLAYSTATION inside for the passengers' entertainment. This vehicle is insane and I totally want one so bad now.


	5. Sapphire Blue and Silver Hues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Shiro, take the wheel. I'm gonna shoot these bastards out the sunroof," Keith said as he loaded up an AK while steering with his knee until Shiro grabbed the steering wheel. 
> 
> "Wouldn't be the first time I've had to steer with you in my lap," Shiro shouted over the whistling wind as the sunroof whirred open. Keith ignored him at first to squeeze his body through the opening of the sunroof enough to shoot at the mob behind them. He didn't appreciate Shiro taking a hand off the wheel to admire his behind. 
> 
> "What's with you and all the sexual innuendo lately!?" Keith shouted over the sound of peppering gunshots and the shrieking winds of going 95 miles an hour. 
> 
> "I dunno. What's it like dealing with six-year-old me sometimes?" Shiro asked in return. 
> 
> "I dunno," Keith mocked. "I don't have a lot of patience."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today's chapter of our beautiful Halloween shorts was half inspired by the song "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd, and half inspired by a fruit I call my friend. Without their help, I wouldn't have had the will to finish this chapter. They know who they are.  
"How did they inspire your work, Sam?"  
Well, I'm glad you asked, dear reader. 
> 
> Keith and Shiro's dialogue was hugely influenced by real-life conversations this friend and I have had in the past. We're too much for each other sometimes. 
> 
> So in the light of things, I decided to make this chapter less scary and more funnier for some comic relief. Zombieland much?

"Keith," Shiro began as he gripped his seats with white knuckles. 

"Shiro," Keith said as he dropped the throttle and sped backwards down the long driveway of the shopping mall parking lot.

"Since when is your six-cylinder faster than my truck?" he asked, and Keith threw the emergency brake and steering wheel at the same time, sending them in a circle until they were tossed into the main street. 

"Uhh, I did some very illegal things to my car when you weren't looking. Sorry." "Is that what you were doing all semester instead of going to class last year!?" Shiro squeaked. "Shiro, hush and take the wheel. I'm gonna shoot these bastards out the sunroof," Keith said as he loaded up an AK while steering with his knee until Shiro grabbed the steering wheel. 

"Wouldn't be the first time I've had to steer with you in my lap," Shiro shouted over the whistling wind as the sunroof whirred open. Keith ignored him at first to squeeze his body through the opening of the sunroof enough to shoot at the mob of zombies behind them. He didn't appreciate Shiro taking a hand off the wheel to admire his behind. 

"What's with you and all the sexual innuendo lately!?" Keith shouted over the sound of peppering gunshots and the shrieking winds of going 95 miles an hour. 

"I dunno. What's it like dealing with six-year-old me sometimes?" Shiro asked in return. 

"I dunno," Keith mocked. "I don't have a lot of patience."

Shiro didn't try to hide the goofy grin that crossed his face, because he knew Keith couldn't see it. Instead, he turned his attention to the song currently playing on the radio of the Audi. 

"Oh, damn, I haven't heard this song in forever," he said, and then the Japanese man turned the radio up. 

Keith let out a loud groan as "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd played loudly, barely covering up the sound of the purring AK, but he would never admit aloud he wasn't objecting to Shiro's taste in music. When in Reno, he supposed. Or surviving a zombie apocalypse. 

Shiro caught glimpse of a group of palm trees just up ahead in the middle of the road, and he glanced up at Keith as he came up with a dangerous plan. 

The Japanese man yanked Keith down into his lap, and as he did, he jerked the wheel of the Audi and jumped a broken section of the median of palm trees. Keith squealed as his favorite car shredded dirt and gravel at the zombies chasing them from the median, and he couldn't be angrier at Shiro for denting the bumper of his Audi because at least they were preserving bullets. 

"Did you know that coconut milk when unfiltered can give you hallucinations?" Shiro noted, and Keith frowned. 

"I thought they just had water...they have milk too? Where is the milk coming from?"

"Their titties, obviously."

Keith made an indignified sound; something like a squawk, and Shiro let out a hearty chuckle. 

"I don't even know what to do right now," Keith finally said. 

"Thank me for not wrecking your car."

"But you did wreck it."

"That's all cosmetic, baby. Your engine still runs like a dream."

Keith sighed in exasperation and grabbed a water from the cooler they had sitting in the backseat, splashing some in his face and chugging down the rest. "I seriously don't know what to do about you right now."

"Just promise to put a bullet in my brain when I become undead."

"I can't make decisions. I feel like my entire life is just a really bad reality show."

"Eh, you're Kylie Jenner at best."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the short chapter, but I worked on this for two hours, and I wanted to put out good content for once, not a lot of content. 
> 
> But I kid y'all not, this is an actual conversation my muse for this story and I had. 
> 
> Me: "Imagine you're shooting at zombies running towards us. Your upper body is sticking out of the sunroof of a RS7-R, you're done with my shit already, and as you're trying to shoot zombies to keep us from dying, I blare The Weeknd. What do you do? But remember if you shoot me, you're dead too."
> 
> Them: "What song by The Weeknd? This is very important."
> 
> Me: "Blinding Lights."
> 
> Them: "It's obvious. You vibe and shoot the zombies."
> 
> The last bit about Kylie Jenner is actually a reference to an inside joke. I made a comment about Keith's life being like the reality show about the Kardashians, but he's not cut out to be a Kardashian, and my friend said,  
"he's Kylie Jenner."


	6. The One and Only

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Is that really all you got?" Lance asked, out of breath like he'd just been running. 
> 
> "Lance," Keith began, "I don't know what your obsession is with this "rivalry" that we have, but I'm done. Come on, dude, let's do something else. You gotta give it a rest eventually."
> 
> Lance shook his head and put his hands on his hips as Keith climbed off the DDR step mat. "I plan on beating your ass at this all night long."
> 
> "Have fun with that!" Keith called as he turned the corner of the mini in-house arcade at the hotel, and Lance crossed his arms.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're going with specific warnings for this one. I want to point out firstly that the Mission Inn is a real place indeed, and while many have reported that it is haunted, a lot of the ghost hunters that I have seen go there have turned up with little to no evidence. So to say for sure if it's haunted? I don't know. I have never been there, and until I go and have an experience of my own, I can't imagine I'll ever be able to say for sure. 
> 
> That having been said, if ghosts bother you, probably don't read this chapter and go ahead to skip to the next one. I do mean it when I say this chapter is going to be a little extra spooky, cause I'm going to do my best to make things sound scary. So for you out there on your phone reading this at night in the pitch black, let me know if I succeeded in making this chapter creepy. 
> 
> Also we're going to AU this bad boy as usual with the recurring theme around here. You'll see that there is some swearing and some mild adult conversation, so be aware of that going into this, and as always, enjoy. 
> 
> I would like to dedicate today's chapter to my friend Kiwi who's having a hard time right now. Of course, I did add a little dialogue that was from a conversation she and I actually had, and I hope that she feels better soon.

"Is that really all you got?" Lance asked, out of breath like he'd just been running. 

"Lance," Keith began, "I don't know what your obsession is with this "rivalry" that we have, but I'm done. Come on, dude, let's do something else. You gotta give it a rest eventually."

Lance shook his head and put his hands on his hips as Keith climbed off the DDR step mat. "I plan on beating your ass at this all night long."

"Have fun with that!" Keith called as he turned the corner of the mini in-house arcade at the hotel, and Lance crossed his arms. 

"I'll play with you," Allura suggested from the bench she had been sitting on and watching. "I've got a decent understanding of how to play at least."

"Now you're in trouble," Pidge said from behind the book she was reading. Lance just grinned in response, cocky as ever, knowing that the brunette's response was directed at him because of Allura's quick feet. He had personal experience there.

"I'm bored, man," Hunk admitted. "being holed up in this hotel is becoming too much for me to take. I'm going to go insane if I can't bake something in the next ten minutes."

"Why don't we tell ghost stories? We are in a haunted hotel, after all," Shiro offered.

"I knew this place was haunted!" Hunk exclaimed. "you guys lied to me!"

"Alright, calm down, big guy. This place is supposedly haunted, okay? Nobody has really been able to prove anything so far," Keith comforted Hunk. 

"Doesn't sound like a terrible idea though," Pidge said. "Shiro, you put the idea on the table. Why don't you tell us a ghost story?"

Shiro chuckled and sat closer to the three that had taken the edge of his bed. "Alright then. Listen close, kids, cause I'm going to make your skin crawl with this one. It all started one spring morning during class at my home town in Kunigami, Okinawa..."

Shiro blew a dark strand of his hair out of his face as he sighed in boredom. It was only 10 in the morning, but already he was losing his mind at the professor's monotone lecture. He was going on and on about the speed of light formula, and how a switch could turn a light on so quickly with only a flip by the property of blah blah blah, Shiro couldn't care less. 

He was more interested in the other students that were doing their physical lessons outside, and particularly, he was interested in one student that seemed somehow so much more different than the others. She had long, curly black hair, dark eyes that almost perfectly blended in with her pupils, and skin so white she looked like a ghost. Like the other female students, she was wearing gym shorts and a white shirt, but she seemed so small even compared to some of the other girls, the outfit didn't quite fit her right. 

"Shirogane Takashi," the professor called, and there was a bit of laughter amongst the class as Shiro jumped in his seat and turned back to the teacher. "If there is something so fascinating waiting for you outside, maybe you'd like to share it with the rest of the class?"

"No sir," Shiro answered. "sorry, sir. I'm just not feeling too well. May I be excused to the restroom?"

The professor seemed to debate Shiro's question as if it were a privilege to leave his class during a lecture, but then decided ultimately that a splash of cold water to the face might help Shiro focus on the lesson better. "Very well," he answered. "but don't be long. There will be a quiz tomorrow on this subject and you don't want to miss the homework assignment."

Shiro quickly kicked his seat out and shuffled out of the class; for once the loud scraping of the chair didn't bother him. All eyes were on him anyway, so he'd have to make this performance count. 

Shiro sighed as he walked into an empty bathroom down the hall, relief washing over him. It was rare that the bathrooms didn't have at least one occupant during this time of the day, since it was just an hour more until lunch. He was glad for the solitude, though, because he'd rather not have to deal with the uncomfortable stares of other students while he tried to figure out where he'd seen that female student before. 

She didn't look too familiar, and especially with her looks, Shiro would know for a fact if she was someone he knew. He wouldn't be able to forget someone like her, but yet, he felt he knew her, or had at least seen her somewhere before. So if he didn't recognize how she looked, how could he know her?

Shiro started himself out of his thoughts as the bathroom door opened, bringing with it the conversation of two male students. One was just as tall as Shiro, with his same dark hair and silver eyes, but this student differed because of the noticeable tongue, lip, and ear piercings. 

"Takashi," the student called as he walked in. "nice to know you still exist. What with you and Grandfather avoiding me all the time at home, I had thought you died. I gotta say I'm disappointed you didn't."

"Ryou," Shiro said softly as his twin shoved past him and towards the stalls, but he couldn't say anything else, because his younger brother and the student he walked in with plugged in a tool that buzzed out his words. Ryou took his jacket off and rolled up his sleeve, and Shiro was appalled when he learned why as the other student pulled out a set of needles. 

"You're getting a tattoo during school hours?" he asked, and Ryou scoffed. "I'm to come home immediately after school, go to my room, do homework, and only come out to shower, piss, or eat dinner. Then, I wake up in the morning, and go to school. Besides that, I have no privileges to leave the house. When do I have time outside of during school to get a tattoo, hmm?"

"That's not what I -"

"Save it, brother. I don't want to hear whatever it is you have to say, and you're not stopping me. You can't tell me what to do. You're not our parents; they're dead, so just beat it."

Shiro gave up, not knowing what else there was to say. He knew if he tried to apologize, Ryou would just cut him off or block him out, as he had done the numerous times before whenever Shiro apologized. He knew it was his fault Ryou was like this, but there was nothing he knew how to do to help his brother. It was a lost cause. 

Shiro turned and left the bathroom instead, and hunted down a much more secluded bathroom for his own privacy. Once inside, he locked the door this time, so nobody else would be able to barge in. He rushed over to the nearest stall, and kicked the door shut just as he retched into the toilet bowl. 

He coughed a bit as he came up for a breath of air, putrid and hot as it felt. His throat burned and his mouth tasted like week-old yogurt, but at least he didn't feel sick anymore. 

Shiro got up to rinse out his mouth at the sink, and popped a mint onto his tongue. Just as he put his pack of mints back into his pocket, however, he heard a faint clacking noise, and looked up into the mirror. A pair of feet were visible from underneath one of the stall doors in the reflection of the mirror, and they shifted to face Shiro. Startled, the student whipped around to look for the feet, but when he saw that same stall door was cracked open and there were no feet, he became confused. 

He passed the event off as his tired mind hallucinating again, and proceeded to wash his hands with care. He heard the clacking noise again, but this time, when he looked up into the mirror, he saw the entire shadow of what looked like a burnt man melting behind him. 

Shiro gasped and let out a startled shout as he whipped around once more to face the shadow, but it was gone. If it was panic and fear that forced his hand, or plain dumb bravery, Shiro wasn't sure, but before he knew what he was doing, Shiro kicked open each of the stall doors, until he came to the last one. He didn't see feet underneath the door, and he couldn't see shadows or movement inside the stall, but a sinking feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, making him want to throw up all over again. 

Slowly, Shiro opened the stall door, but when he did, there was nothing inside the stall but an empty toilet. 

He sighed in frustration and turned to walk away, just as a blade met with his throat. Shiro froze in place, and when he looked to meet the gaze of whoever it was holding the blade, he was horrified to find it was the girl from the yard. 

"Who am I?" she asked him, but he had no answer. He was stunned, and with a grin that spread ear-to-ear, the girl slashed his throat. 

~

"Weak!" Lance called out as he got off the dance mat to grab a drink of water. "my bubble butt can fart out scarier than that."

"Way to work in a compliment about yourself," Keith retorted, and Lance plopped onto the ground with the others. "I have a better story to offer. One that will really scare the pants off of all of you guys."

~

Lance yawned as he flipped off the light switches for each of the lights in the empty dance studio, and waved to the last two girls that had gotten in their cars. The girls waved back, and drove off into the dark night, leaving Lance in an equally-dark dance studio. 

Lance stretched on the floor next to the mirrors, watching his position to make sure he was holding the right poses. This was the only time he got to himself to dance in the studio he taught at, and he enjoyed the time he had with nobody watching or copying his moves as often as he could. He grabbed the stereo remote from within his track pants pocket, and turned on Gangsta, an old song by Kehlani. She was a favored artist of his, and he loved the suspended-in-air dance style her music had. 

Just as Lance was getting comfortable and starting his routine, a light in one of the back rooms flickered on, and he paused the music to call out into the hallway. 

"Hello? Hijole, girls, it's closing time. Who's back there?" he asked, but in response, all he got was the faint sound of footsteps coming from inside the room. Lance sighed in annoyance and got up to walk over to back room where the light was coming from. The room was empty, just as he had left it, but this concerned him more than comforted him. Was someone inside the building?

"Hey!" he called out to the building. "I'm a Cubano, ese, you don't want to fuck with me. So come out now."

Behind him, another light in a back room flickered on, and then the song he had been playing resumed. Lance was now extremely concerned, because he had the remote control to the stereo, and the only other way to shut on the stereo was to get on a ladder and physically mess with the stereo controls on the stereo that hung in a corner of the main dance room. 

Lance walked back to the main dance room, and looked around. There was nobody out there, and no ladder propped up next to the suspended stereo in the corner of the room. He was getting really annoyed really fast, and he blamed that for the reason why his heart was pounding out of his chest. 

Lance walked towards the front doors, making sure they were still locked, and then he checked the alarm to make sure nobody had come in through any of the other doors. It hadn't gone off from detecting any motion anywhere in the studio other than where he had been, and he knew there was no way that anyone could've gotten in without the alarm picking them up. 

He crossed his arms in annoyance, and huffed to himself. Lance wasn't sure what was going on, but he was going to find out. 

He pulled out his phone and opened the security cameras around and inside the building, but he couldn't find anything out of place until a man appeared in front of one of the cameras and disabled it. Lance gasped softly in surprise, and then the man appeared in front of another camera and disabled it, and then another, and another, until all the cameras but the one for the main dance room had been disabled. 

Lance put his phone away and ran to his backpack in the corner of the room, snatching his taser from the front pocket of his backpack. He made sure it was charged before he switched it on, and he just stood in the semi-darkness, waiting. 

A hand grabbed his wrist and yanked it downwards then, knocking the taser out of his grip and sending it skidding across the floor. Lance wasn't giving up without a fight, though, and he threw his left leg over his shoulder to kick the man standing behind him. Flexibility had its' perks. 

The man stumbled back, but wasn't deterred, and when Lance flipped around so his back wasn't to the stranger, he prepared for a fist fight, but that wasn't what he got.

The man pulled out a needle, and Lance's blood ran cold. Was he planning to poison Lance with something? Make it look like he OD'd in his own studio?

Lance ducked as the man swung at him, but it was a false swing. He dove to tackle Lance to the ground with the dancer's weight off-balanced in that split second, and in another, the man was on top of Lance with the needle in his throat. Lance only had time to gasp before he was unconscious, falling limp like a rag doll. 

Lance woke up a couple hours later, groggy and with a headache, and tied up in a broken, metal bed. A man stood over him, one with dark hair and silver eyes, and one that was almost thrice Lance's size. 

"I'm so glad you're awake, Lance," the man said. "now we can be together forever. I've been watching you for a long time, Lance, and the way you dance is so...enticing."

~

"I'm going to stop you right there," Keith began to say over Shiro's stifled laughter. "firstly, that sounds a lot like Shiro."

"Well, it isn't Shiro," Lance mocked. 

"What's his name then?"

~

"I'm Jiro," the man introduced himself. "and I'm your biggest fan."

~

"No, uh-uh," Keith said with a hand in Lance's face. "get your head out of the clouds."

"Wh-who's next?" Shiro choked out between exasperated gasps of laughter. 

"I'll go next," Allura said with a smile. "I've got one that starts off a little familiar, but there's more in the story than meets the eye."

~

Allura stretched and yawned as she woke up that morning, and she pulled back the sheets to climb out of bed. It was her first day of senior year, and she was the most popular girl in school, so she had a reputation to uphold and that involved not being late. 

She jumped in the bathroom first, taking her straightener to straighten out her long, silvery-white hair and then braiding it intricately into several different braids back and framing her face. She then put her makeup on, and then she grabbed her phone and ran to her closet to change. Her first day would require something that made a statement, but something that also she would be ready to wear in any occasion. 

She settled finally on a sporty sleeveless crop top, black shorts, and an oversized pink and black jacket with a dozen or so belts and buckles hanging from the edges and sides. She then picked up her backpack, and she was downstairs and in her car to school in minutes. Popularity always came with a price; Allura knew that when she got into the game. She started out like everyone else-at the bottom of the food chain, but her dad had different plans for her when she started high school. This high school was new for her at the time she was a freshman, and it was decided that she would throw a party for only the coolest kids in school to start out her ranking at the school. Her dad did everything for her-he picked out her clothes and everything she wore had to come from some fashion magazine; he made sure that she threw parties at least once a month for her classmates; but he never let her lag on her studies either. She was a cheerleader only as an outlet because she did good in her studies, and from the moment that she became one of the cool kids, everything she did had to have an extreme amount of effort put behind it. She wouldn't stop trying ever again because she didn't want to go back to being the sweet, quiet, unpopular shy girl again. "Hey, Allura, you headed to class already?" A tall boy with crisp white hair pulled back into a ponytail asked. Allura smiled at him, and pulled her backpack strap over her shoulder more securely. "I don't know, Lotor. Did you have a different idea for how I should spend my morning?" "Maybe I see a burger and fries with your name on it in your future. Say, at 11?" Lotor asked, and Allura rolled her eyes, but let her smile past her mask anyway. "You're such a geek," she said playfully. "I'll see you then." ~ "I love this place," Lotor said as he and Allura sat down to eat. "have you ever eaten here before?" "Not really, actually," Allura answered. "I'm not technically supposed to eat this kind of food, but I suppose what my dad doesn't know won't hurt him." "Why do you let him control so much of your life?" Lotor asked, but when he saw Allura's smile fade, he knew he stepped over the line. "Sorry if that's too personal. You don't have to answer." "Well...actually," she began. "he...he has good intentions. He's a good man. He just wants to see me shine and do good in life. He wants me to have choices available to me that were never available to him when he was my age. He's only been like this since my mom died. He's just worried for me, you know? I don't know what I want out of life and he wants to make sure I have options available to me so I know at least if I decide I want to do one thing or another, I can because I have the door open for me to take." "Do you know where you want to go out of high school?" "Hmmm...I was thinking of spending a year abroad. Maybe take internships with different law firms. I could work as a secretary for a while and make a living for myself that way until I decide what school I want to go to, you know?" Lotor bit into his burger with a loud crunch, and watched Allura for a minute as he chewed. She giggled and bit her own burger, then squealed in an undignified manner. "Little bigger than you were expecting?" Lotor laughed, and Allura nodded. She swallowed what she had chewed in her mouth, and took a sip of her drink to chase it down. "Little bit." Lotor chuckled, and the two enjoyed the rest of their meal together in shared giggles and crunching lettuce. ~ Allura tossed fitfully in her sleep that night, not able to dream without nightmares. It was the third night in a row this had been happening; the first night, she thought it was just because of her conversation with Lotor about her mother. The next night, however, she had found strange footprints in the dirt nearby her upstairs bedroom. She wasn't sure where they had come from or when they happened, but she wrote it off until she woke up to the sound of a rapping on her large windows. "Hello?" she said sleepily, rubbing her eyes as she looked out the windows. "Who's there?" She saw a shadow of a figure dart across her window, and she immediately got up and ran to her father's room. "Dad!? Dad! Wake up!" she whispered, shaking her father. The tired man cracked open ocean-colored eyes to peek up at Allura, and frowned. "What time is it? What's going on?" "I saw someone outside my window again," she said, and her father leaped to his feet, grabbed his gun from under his mattress, and raced outside of the house to look around. Allura waited patiently in his room, trying not to shake as she watched the door. She frowned when she saw the door crack open ever so slightly though, and she stood up. "Dad..?" she called into the darkness, but there was no answer. The door creaked open again ever so slightly, and then Allura's father burst into the room, startling Allura. "Sorry. There's more footprints around the house," he said, "I'm going to call Zarkon and have him sort this out." "Lotor's father?" "Yeah, he's the county D.A. He can order a sheriff to watch your window for the next couple nights to see if there's someone stalking you or something." ~ "We'll be just outside for the night, Alfor," the sheriff, C. McClain, said. "don't worry, sir. We'll be just in the driveway. If someone is indeed out for your daughter, we'll catch them." "Thank you," Alfor answered, and then the sheriff went back to his car. "That's Lance's dad," Allura said quietly. "I recognize his hair and eyes. They look so much alike." "Well, let's hope that he understands how important it is that I protect you and does his job well," Alfor said, then he turned on the security system in the house. ~ The next four nights were uneventful; they went on without a disturbance from anyone, but Allura still had the nightmares. She wasn't getting much sleep because of it, and it was starting to show at school. "Allura, you don't look so good," Lotor said as they sat down to start class. "are you okay?" "Yeah, I'm fine," she answered. "just having nightmares. I guess I should slow down on the horror movie binge for now." Even with the joking tone of her voice, Lotor could tell something wasn't right. She wasn't okay. "What if I stayed the night at your house?" Lotor offered. "maybe it would help to have someone there." "Are you kidding? My dad would freak if I brought a boy home." ~ Allura swallowed awkwardly as Alfor glared at Lotor hard enough to surely set the boy on fire. "So you're Zarkon's boy," Alfor finally said. "Yes sir," Lotor answered. "What are your intentions?" "I have none, sir. I just worry about your daughter as much as you do. I want to make sure that it's just nightmares and she's not in some kind of danger. I plan to major in psychology, sir." "Hmm. You're academically inclined, then?" "Only in science and mathematics, sir," Lotor answered truthfully. "I'm afraid my literature isn't so great." "Well, you'll have to know how to spell Hydrocodone to be able to prescribe it to all your druggie friends, won't you?" Lotor choked and coughed, and Allura glared at Alfor. "Dad!" "It's alright, Allura," Lotor said after taking a drink of water. "he's just concerned I'm a bad influence. It's what any good parent would do. My grandfather did way worse to my dad when my mom met him; believe you me." "That's not getting you any brownie points," Alfor said as he pointed his fork at Lotor. "Dad!" Allura hissed. "enough. Okay? Please. Just cool down a little." Alfor went silent after that, but continued to watch Lotor as they ate. ~ "Do you mind playing the TV while we sleep?" Lotor asked. "I find it soothing to sleep with someone talking in the background. Helps keep my mind relax." "Sure," Allura smiled, then she turned on the TV and turned the volume down to where they could just barely hear it. "that okay?" "Perfect," Lotor said as he climbed in bed next to Allura. "are you sure you're okay with me in your bed? I could just crash on the floor. I really don't mind." "No. I trust you." "Thank you." ~ Allura woke up later that night to the sound of the sink running, and she glanced over at the empty space next to her. She smiled faintly, then went to roll back over to sleep, but her face turned to one of horror when she realized she had rolled over onto a sleeping Lotor. "What's-" Allura slapped a hand over Lotor's mouth before he could say anything else, then pointed towards the dark bathroom where the sinkwater was still going. Lotor frowned and motioned Allura to stay there as he got out of bed to check who was in the bathroom. Allura bit her lip and waited silently, but when Lotor disappeared into the bathroom, the sink water kept going, but he didn't make any noise or walk back anytime soon. "Lotor?" Allura called in a partial whisper. "Lotor!" There was no answer, and Allura got up to go to the bathroom to check on him. What she found, however, was nothing she could ever in her life had been prepared for. Alfor was covered in blood and shirtless, having skinned Lotor alive. He washed the blood from his knife in the sink, and when Allura looked closer, the sheriff's body was just underneath Lotor's. "Now they can't make you impure," Alfor said with a smile. "you'll be my perfect girl, Allura. The most perfect girl in the world." Allura turned and bolted out of the bathroom, but her father was faster. He caught and tackled her into the hallway, and when they landed, the knife in his hand plunged deep into Allura's chest. She gasped and choked on her own blood as Alfor widened his eyes in horror. "No! Allura!" he shouted, and he tried to pull the knife out, but it only tore her chest open more on the way out. She was dead in seconds, and he was left, sobbing in the dark and covered in her, Lotor's, and the sheriff's blood. ~ "Ehhhh, that was kinda predictable," Lance said. "it was good, but predictable. Who's next?" 

"I got one," Pidge said. "and this one is going to be good."

~

Pidge tweaked the wires inside of the subwoofer she was working on, and then pinched them together and twisted them with a set of pliers. "Okay, try it now!"

Keith turned the volume on the stereo in his car up, and the car vibrated with sound. Keith laughed as his mirrors trembled, and he put his fingers against the glass just to feel it. 

"Works great," he told Pidge as he lowered the volume. "do you wanna go for a test ride?"

Pidge shrugged. "I'm not the fast and furious type. I gotta get back, anyway. I still have a report to finish. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Keith left with a roar of his engine, then, and Pidge turned to go back inside her house. She glanced up at the clock. Still a few hours left before her brother and parents came home. Pidge clicked on the TV, then dug through the family's closet of movies to find something to watch. She always enjoyed watching TV while she did her schoolwork; it helped her a lot to focus if there was background noise. 

Pidge popped the movie in, and pulled out her laptop to start typing. She watched her white screen for a second, trying to decide which hook she should use for her article report. It didn't matter much, she supposed, but she liked putting the effort in anyway. 

She suddenly saw something shift in her screen, but thinking it was just a trick of the light or something, she went on to start typing. 

~

Pidge awoke with a start; she hadn't even realized she had dozed off. She glanced at the clock again, and realized she had been asleep for quite a while. 

"Oh crap," she muttered, "paper's due. Okay. No more distractions."

Pidge started to type again, but with the only sound in the house being the clacking of her keys on her keyboard, she was startled when she heard the sound of something being dropped on the carpet in her brother's room. She stood up with her laptop in hand, and called out for her brother down the hall. 

"Matt, are you home?" she asked. "if you're playing a prank on me, it's not funny. Come out, come on. I need help with my report, actually."

She grew concerned when there was no answer, but didn't think much more of it after that. She sat back down and continued to type away instead, just focusing on her report until she had completed it. 

"Katie!" her brother's desperate voice suddenly called from his bedroom, and Pidge leaped to her feet this time, dropping her laptop. She rushed to her brother's room, but was surprised to find his door was locked. 

"Matt!" she yelled, banging on the door. "Matt, open the door! Come on! Open the door, you geek!"

The door finally clicked unlocked and gave way to let her inside, but she couldn't see anything. The room was filled with an almost clear-like white smoke, and she quickly got onto her hands and knees. She then wrapped her sweater sleeve over her mouth and nose, and crawled around to check the bedroom. 

To her shock, though, there was no source for the smoke, and she couldn't find her brother anywhere. 

Just as she was about to crawl back out of the room, a hand reached out from under Matt's bed and grabbed her ankle, yanking her under the bed. She was about to scream, but then her brother whispered into her ear. "Shh, don't make a sound. I think there's someone in the house."

She relaxed in her big brother's arms, and watched as a pair of black boots walked past the bed. "Katie?" the owner of the boots called in Matt's voice, but then they turned and left the room. Pidge let out a soft sigh through her nose in relief, but it was short-lived when she heard what the thing in the boots said next. 

"I can't find her anywhere. The whole room is painted with smoke, too. We should clear out of the house immediately," Matt said, and Sam nodded solemnly. "we can only hope she got a late class or something. I'll try her cell one more time to see if she picks up."

"I hope she isn't hurt or lost," Colleen said, and Matt hugged his mother with a reassuring smile. "you know Katie. She's fine. She's probably just caught up in the library doing some research or studying or something."

Pidge's eyes widened, and she slowly turned to get a glance of the thing that had drug her under the bed, but she didn't get the chance. 

~

"Okay, that was pretty good," Keith admitted. "but I've got a better one. Now this one is a true story. It really happened, and unfortunately, nobody really knows how it ends."

The group all looked at each other oddly, al but Shiro and Keith. "Oh, I remember this one. This is that story where the guy was telling his friends about it but he couldn't finish it and he died like two days later?" Shiro asked, and a grin crossed Keith's face as he shook his head. 

"Nope. I have a feeling this story will be so terrifying, none of you will ever speak of it."

"What makes you say that?" Lance asked with a cocked head. "you think you're a better storyteller than us?"

"No," Keith said as he procured a large hunting knife. "I just have a feeling you all won't live to see the end."


	7. There's No Such Thing As A Happy Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What would've happened if Keith hadn't met Shiro when he did? Would toxic masculinity have driven Keith to madness? Would he still have found the blue lion? Would he ever even have left his shack?
> 
> "I like this song," a cheery female voice said as her well-manicured galaxy nail poked the subs of Keith's radio. 
> 
> Keith stopped for a second to listen to the song that was playing. Rumors, by NEFFEX. He liked that song too. 
> 
> "Can I help you lift that?" the man behind Keith asked, and Keith shook his head in response. He knew he wasn't as buff as the man currently sitting and watching him pull his Miata apart, but he could still hold his own. Besides, the part wasn't heavy, just clunky. 
> 
> "It smells kinda funky in here," another man, taller, but also chunkier than Keith said. "do you guys think it smells funky?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello kiddies! So I know I am VERY far behind, but not to fret, even if it takes me a thousand years, I'll get this book done right!
> 
> Today's little tidbit was inspired in part by a documentary I watched exploring the lives of John W. Gacy, Jeffrey L. Dahmer, Charles M. Manson, and another man a little less known by the name of Dennis L. Rader (I JUST now realized all these famous serial killers have one astounding thing in common...they all have middle names.). It's a very educational documentary, and if you can stomach it, the name of the documentary is Serious Serial Killers.   
Also inspired in part by a dream I had after doing a research study on patients with DID.   
THIS IS NOT TO MAKE FUN OR MOCK ANYONE WITH DID. IF YOU OR A LOVED ONE HAVE DID, PLEASE MOVE ON AS THIS CHAPTER MAY BE TRIGGERING OR UPSETTING FOR YOU. THIS STORY IS RELEASED ONLY FOR THE PURPOSE OF SHARING A DREAM I HAD. PLEASE, DO NOT READ IF THIS CONTENT DISTURBS OR HARMS YOU. YOU HAVE BEEN REPEATEDLY WARNED.
> 
> Although...if you can't stomach it...and you're reading my stories...is my content really that interesting?
> 
> Warning time!
> 
> DID triggers, major character death, violent and graphic death content

Keith Kogane lived alone in the desert for as far back as he could remember. He couldn't remember much about his dad's death, much less what happened to his mother, and he couldn't remember the last time he spoke to another human being outside of his house. 

Inside of his house, however, he had plenty of social interaction with the two that enjoyed talking to him whenever it seemed his mind wasn't busy with a million tasks at once. Unfortunately for Keith, that meant most of the time. 

"What are you doing? You're going to break the drivetrain and drop your clutch," the deep but smooth baritone of a man's voice echoed into Keith's ear. He felt the tickle of the man's breath against his earlobe, and Keith set the wrench in his hand down to exchange it for the exhaust he was currently dropping from his '97 Miata. 

"I know what I'm doing," Keith responded plainly. "it's a front wheel drive. I can't hurt the drivetrain or the clutch if I remove the exhaust first."

"I like this song," a cheery female voice said as her well-manicured galaxy nail poked the subs of Keith's radio. 

Keith stopped for a second to listen to the song that was playing. Rumors, by NEFFEX. He liked that song too. 

"Can I help you lift that?" the man behind Keith asked, and Keith shook his head in response. He knew he wasn't as buff as the man currently sitting and watching him pull his Miata apart, but he could still hold his own. Besides, the part wasn't heavy, just clunky. 

"It smells kinda funky in here," another man, taller, but also chunkier than Keith said. "do you guys think it smells funky?"

"All I can smell is burnt almonds. That's probably the transmission fluid though," another woman, this one sitting next to Keith, said. 

"Transmission fluid doesn't smell like burnt almonds," the other man argued. "it smells like transmission fluid."

"Well, I haven't replaced the transmission fluid in a while," Keith said. "so it could be burnt. Katie's not wrong about that."

Keith let out a grunt of exertion as he leaned the exhaust against a nearby wall, and then he was back underneath his car and taking apart his front axles. 

"All this for a tiny little gear," another man, this one just about Keith's size and height, said as he held up what looked like a typical bike chain gear. 

"It's not just a gear," Keith said. "it's a powerful piece of machinery that will make shifting into higher gear easier for me since I added a couple things to tweak this thing's torque."

"What's a torque?" the female, Katie asked, tapping her bottom lip with her nail. 

"Torque is something that allows more power to your car for a faster takeoff in this instance. In other instances, you'll see trucks with high torque for towing power," Keith explained calmly. He didn't want to admit it, because they always annoyed the hell out of him, but he kinda thought that having the company was nice. He enjoyed talking about cars a lot, so teaching someone else what he was learning was almost...fun for him. 

"Hey, can I play with this?" Katie asked as she picked up the exhaust. 

Scratch that. Definitely not fun. 

"No, don't touch that-!" Keith snapped, and in his quick attempt to stop the girl playing with his exhaust, the hanging edge of a clip holding his bumper together on one end caught his shirt and bit painfully into his skin. Keith hissed in pain, immediately collapsing onto the ground. 

"Ohh, fuck," Keith mumbled to himself. He tapped his hand against the wound. He bit back a whimper of pain, and checked his hand. As he expected, it was coated in blood. 

Keith got up and rushed to the bathroom to clean up, but he couldn't get the blood to stop gushing from his wound. What did he learn in class about staunching blood flow? Tourniquets, but he couldn't tourniquet this. He could elevate his feet, but that would send blood back towards the wound. He needed more severe medical attention, or he'd likely pass out soon. 

He grabbed the first aid kit from the medicine cabinet, and pulled out a suture kit. If he couldn't fix this himself, he would go to the hospital then, but he would be damned if he didn't try first. 

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow!" Keith hissed as the needle went in and out of his skin. He saw the face of one of his mates standing in the doorway; he didn't look pleased with Keith, but his face was also twisted with concern. 

"You should go to the hospital, Keith," he said. 

"I can't," Keith said. "you remember what happened the last time I was at a hospital."

"You were born..?" the man said with a quizzical expression. 

"Don't be a smartass, Shiro."

"I'm just worried about you," the man named Shiro said. He sighed and his eyes rolled towards the bathroom sink, where Keith had a mess of medical supplies. "what are you going to do if you fall asleep?"

"Well, if that happens; which isn't likely since it's already almost 5am; I guess we'll find out, won't we?" Keith retorted, then clipped the last tied stitch. "there. All done. Now get off my case; I have a car to finish."

"I'm worried about you having another episode," Shiro blurted, and Keith stopped in his tracks. His shoulders went from tense, to lowered in relaxation, and he turned to look up into Shiro's cloudy eyes. 

"I'm fine, okay? My DID hasn't acted up in a really long time, and I have been focused too much on the restoration of this car to even experience symptoms. I'm in a lot more control of it than you think I am, okay? Honest. No need to worry..."

Keith shook his head, feeling a wave of dizziness hit him. Whoa, since when was his hand as plush as carpet? 

~

"Keith!? Keith!"

"Vitals are dropping."

"No, I just saw his hand twitch!"

"Get him out of here!"

"Captain, I'm sorry, but you have to let them work now. The doctors will do everything they can to help Mr. Kogane in every way possible."

Keith cracked his eyes open to look around and find where the voices were coming from, but there was nothing but bright lights shining in his face. He couldn't see much other than blurry white. 

~

Matt tapped his foot impatiently in the waiting room, the curve between his forefinger and thumb tucked between his lips. He wasn't sure what had happened himself; it all seemed so fast. He had a bad day; the Garrison wasn't getting anywhere close to being prepared for the coming war they had been warned about; Matt had just about had it and decided to go out into the desert to let out some steam. He wasn't expecting to find the body of an ex-classmate in a random garage in the middle of the desert, soaking in a pool of his own blood. 

Matt stood up when two officers approached him, but by their solemn faces, they didn't have good news. 

"What is it?" he asked, and the female officer was first to speak. "Captain, I'm afraid we have some disturbing news. You're going to want to sit down for this."

Matt sat slowly back down in his chair, his eyes darting back and forth between the two officers in front of him. There was a long pause, and the room went quiet. 

"Spit it out," Matt finally said, and the male officer handed Matt a file. "We found something in the small residence that Keith was living in. Well, exactly...we found four somethings. The...the images are disturbing, sir. Please. Look over them in the comfort of loved ones' arms."

Matt frowned, and watched in stunned silence as the officers walked away. What the hell was in this file? He was going to find out. 

Matt flipped open the first page, and tears sprung in his eyes. He had to cover his mouth to keep from vomiting right then and there. In his 9 years with the Garrison, surviving battle after brutal battle, he'd never seen anything this horrific before. 

SHIROGANE TAKASHI - AGED, 26 YRS  
CAUSE OF DEATH UNKNOWN. BODY WAS BADLY DECOMPOSED AND RECOVERED IN PIECES. POSSIBLE TRAUMA TO NECK AND HEAD.   
IDENTITY CONFIRMED BY DENTAL RECORDS.   
FOUND IN LR 1. MISSING RIGHT ARM AND LEFT FEMUR. BODY AGED 122 DAYS AT TIME OF DISCOVERY.   
PREVIOUS STATUS: MISSING  
CURRENT STATUS: DECEASED

HUNK GARRETT - AGED 17 YRS  
CAUSE OF DEATH UNKNOWN. BODY WAS BADLY DECOMPOSED AND RECOVERED IN PIECES. TRACES OF GLASS FOUND IN RIBCAGE. TRAUMA TO LEFT SHOUDLER BLADE AND HEAD.   
IDENTITY CONFIRMED BY DENTAL RECORDS.  
FOUND IN LR 1. FINGERS REMOVED POST MORTEM BUT NEVER RECOVERED. BODY AGED 121 DAYS AT TIME OF DISCOVERY.   
PREVIOUS STATUS: MISSING   
CURRENT STATUS: DECEASED

LANCE CHARLES MCCLAIN - AGED 17 YRS  
CAUSE OF DEATH BY FIRE. BODY WAS BURNT WHILE VICTIM WAS ALIVE. BODY BADLY BURNT BUT ID WAS RECOVERED AND CONFIRMED.   
FOUND IN BR 1.   
PREVIOUS STATUS: MISSING  
CURRENT STATUS: DECEASED

KATHERINE HOLT ALIAS PIDGE GUNDERSON - AGED 16 YRS  
CAUSE OF DEATH BY DROWNING. BODY PARTIALLY INTACT. LEFT BREAST REMOVED, RIGHT KNEECAP REMOVED WITH SURGICAL DEXTERITY. TRAUMA TO LEFT TEMPLE.   
IDENTITY CONFIRMED BY DENTAL RECORDS AND IMAGING SPECS.   
FOUND IN BTR 1 IN BATHTUB.   
PREVIOUS STATUS: MISSING  
CURRENT STATUS: DECEASED

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you that did stick around and read through the whole thing, please let me know what you think. I went a little out of my comfort zone with this one, because I don't believe in talking about mental illnesses like this to this degree. If you would like to see more content like this however, do also let me know, because I love doing research to find out more about mental illness. I feel awareness is incredibly important. 
> 
> For those who don't quite understand, for a patient with DID, the others living inside you can feel like other whole people inside of you. The paladins in the beginning of the story were not actually the paladins (thus explaining why they were so out of character) but the other personalities of Keith, the "protectors" as they are called. Keith gave them the names of the paladins because the trauma of murdering them was so severe for him, he made them into his protectors to hide him from that trauma. At the same time, another being inside of Keith was indeed trying to protect him, but protect him from forming relationships with people that would die and/or leave him again, thus the "logical" solution for him was to kill them. I hope this clears some air about things, and I want to stress:
> 
> THIS IS NOT ME ENCOURAGING SUCH ACTS. YOU SHOULD SEEK SERIOUS, PROFESSIONAL HELP IF YOU FEEL LIKE THIS.
> 
> Please be safe, guys. Until next time!


	8. The Deadliest Snake of them All

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith is a camgirl, and he has a stalker by the name of Takashi Shirogane, but the ordeal quickly becomes deadlier than a simple stalker. 
> 
> One night, while camming for a Halloween special, an intruder vanishes Keith's castmates and friends, until Keith's the only one left in the dark house, at the mercy of the stalker that tormented him unbeknownst to Keith. 
> 
> "I'm not in the mood right now. I'm still freaked out."
> 
> "I'm sorry. I didn't realize I scared you that bad."
> 
> "How did you do that...that vanishing trick?"
> 
> "What vanishing trick?"
> 
> "Come on, Kinkade, don't play games with me. You know what trick I'm talking about. The trick in the woods. Every time I looked up, you got closer."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's ya boi Sam with the releasing chapters out of order again!  
I really don't know why AO3 does this to me. I know I put this chapter up as chapter 9, but instead, it saved as chapter 8? I don't know guys. I really don't know. 
> 
> Also, I would be really grateful if someone could teach me how to do the image-pasting thing because I've started commissioning a certain artist to draw little pieces to go with each chapter, but I can't figure out to save my life how I'm going to post them here for y'all to see. That having been said, if someone has advice for how to paste a picture here, I'd really appreciate it. 
> 
> UPDATE: I HAVE FIGURED IT OUT HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE 
> 
> I swear I had no inspiration for this shit. I did not. I do not. Not until I watched Cam for the like.....pfff, 15th time? 1,000,000,000th time? Who's counting really?
> 
> Soooooo this is going to get pretty sexually explicit. In that regard, I'm going that this series is now in the unrated group. Unrated being...it's pretty bad.  
I might have to double check the official guide to ratings real quick. 
> 
> Okay, so this series gets the official rating of RESTRICTED! 
> 
> But what does that mean? 
> 
> That means, unfortunately, if you're under 18, you need a parent or guardian's permission to continue on from here. 
> 
> Of course, I used to just select "I'm over 18" all the time when I wasn't. Who's really going to stop you?
> 
> I am not condoning little children seeing adult content. 
> 
> I certainly can't. The internet has no official way of checking if you're actually over 18 yet. Unless you have parental block on your computer, but what parent actually knows how to work computers so well that they can set that up?
> 
> PLEASE do not continue if you are under 18. 
> 
> I certainly know my parents were too lazy to bother with the controls. They used to let us do whatever and didn't care. 
> 
> YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
> 
> Oh, and this is going to get VERY out of character. So...yeah. Little sex scene towards the end with Keith and Kinkade.

Keith set his laptop down for the umpteenth time, then grabbed his pen and scribbled out the idea he had written down on his notepad. He was trying to find another idea for his next cam session, but with Halloween month already here and so much pressure to do something good, he felt his brain melting inside his skull over the ideas he had written. None of them would work, he knew, because they had all been done over and over. There were already girls and guys alike doing Freddy Krueger, Jason Vorhees, Leatherface- every famous serial killer in existence, every version of any princess, every single character that could be objectified into a sex toy had been done so already. He couldn't think of a single original idea, and it was bugging him. What was he going to do?

His phone went off then, and he glanced at it to check who was calling him. "Oh, hey, Kinkade," he said into the mic of his wireless headphones. 

"Hey, Kogane. I have to pick your brain. You're the perfect go-to person for Halloween ideas and I'm struggling," the man on the other end of the line said.

"I hate to break it to you, Ryan, but I'm just as barren as you," Keith answered. "I was going to do my own personal take on a sexy Harley, but HQ is all everyone's talking about for the last six years it feels like. I don't think she'll ever get unpopular at this point, cause just when the first fad over her Suicide Squad movie had died down, they released Birds of Prey."

"Ugh, I feel it. It's just ridiculous. But look, maybe you want to be a part of the fad, right? At least if you're doing her, you can still come up with an original idea. Just because your character is original, you'll get viewers, but then you'll easily be able to do an original storyline. Y'know?"

Keith's eyes lit up, and he grinned wide. "Hey, Kinkade, would you collab with me on this idea you just gave me?" he asked, and Kinkade chuckled. 

"Always, babe. Whatcha got?"

"I gotta call Lotor real quick, then I'll get back to you."

"Alright, babe. Keep me updated."

Keith hung up then, and pulled out his phone to call the one person he knew would never let him down. 

~

"Are you sure you're comfortable with this?" Lotor asked Keith as he played with the settings on his camera. "I thought you didn't do cam sessions with photographers."

"I don't, normally," Keith answered as he wrote "ROTTEN" on his cheek. "but I'm comfortable enough with you and I need your brilliant expertise and plotting to make my idea happen."

Lotor chuckled. "I'm flattered. Truly. So, when is our crew supposed to get here?" 

"I sent him your address, but he lives about an hour away, so it could take a little while. Hey, could you do me one favor? I don't want my makeup to run and I don't believe in setting spray. Can you please turn the AC down to 58 for me?"

"Won't you freeze?"

"The jacket's made of wool and I'm wearing three layers of makeup. I'm pretty sure that will keep me warm enough."

Lotor turned the AC down to the requested setting, and the room slowly become colder and colder until it felt like the inside of a refrigerator. Lotor pulled his coat on, then set his camera on its' tripod. 

"So here's what I'm thinking," Keith began. "we all sit down for an innocent game of truth or dare. I ask you truth or dare, you say truth. I ask about the history of this house, and then you will change your mind and say dare. I dare you to tell me the history, and then you do your monologue about the house. You then dare me to stand outside for five minutes in the dark, knowing the history. I prove I'm not scared and don't believe you by going. You will come up from behind me and scare me, and then that's when we find out the rumors are true. We get chased for a while, but it turns out it's just Ryan, who will be playing Deadshot, messing with us. He reveals that the rumors are true, and then twist ending, he's the killer, he kills you, takes advantage of me, then end. You've acted in small parts before, right?"

"Yes," Lotor nodded. "you have nothing to worry about from me. Is Ryan okay with this?"

"Yeah, we've got a safeword and everything. It'll be faked noncon. I'll be perfectly safe the whole time. Watch." Keith held up a knife, then stabbed it into his own leg. Lotor jumped in surprise, but then Keith pulled the knife away to show Lotor that he had pressed a button to tuck it safely into the handle, so it never touched his skin. "See? Safe."

Lotor nodded, and then there was a knock on the door of the large colonial house. "Oh, that's them. Can you get it Lotor? I still have to finish doing my arm tattoo."

The older British male walked towards the door, and when he opened it, he smiled at the visitors dressed up and standing patiently on the porch. "Come on in."

~

"Joker, you're up next," Keith said as he smacked on a piece of bubblegum. "truth or dare?"

Lotor chuckled awkwardly. "Uhh...truth."

Keith grinned and narrowed his eyes. "Tell us the truth about your house. Is it really haunted by the famous Axeman serial killer of the 1910s?"

Lotor bit his lip then shifted to sit indian style. "I want a dare instead."

"I dare you to answer the question."

"I don't like this game," Lotor said, then started to get up, but Nadia, playing the Enchantress, grabbed his wrist. "You have to play. We're all doing it," she said. 

"Them's the rules, Puddin'," Keith grinned. 

"Alright! Alright. I'll tell you.

"So in the late 1910s, beginning in May of 1918, there was a report made of a grizzly, horrific crime against a couple sleeping in their bed. A man and his wife had been hacked to death in their bed while they slept, and neither would survive the attack. There would be several more attacks like this over the course of the next year, with only 5 survivors of the 13 attacked. One particular survivor was a pregnant woman, who went on to give birth to a healthy baby. During this time, the Axeman said he would not attack if he heard Jazz music playing in the houses of every home in New Orleans. It was unknown whether or not the Axeman actually walked the streets listening to see if everyone had obeyed his rules, but that night, as he promised, he didn't kill anyone. 

"However, there were reports later on that started as rumors that the famed Axeman had came upon this very house we reside in and since he did not hear Jazz music within this house, but rather; there was opera music playing; he came and broke inside this very house to attack the people inside. The residents were ready, however, and they each took axes to hack the man to pieces where he stood, giving him a taste of his own medicine. Now, this house is supposedly haunted by the Axeman, who can never rest because of his unfinished crime spree. He still needs two more victims, you see; when he gets those two other victims, then he becomes King of the Third ring of Hell. I've actually heard sounds of what I think is the Axeman's ghost trying to break the bottom panel of the kitchen door into the backyard out so he can get into the house."

The group was quiet for a second, and then Keith burst into laughter. "Wow, that is such a crock. This house is definitely not haunted, Lotor."

"Alright, then," Lotor said. "truth or dare, Quinn?"

"Dare," Keith said with a crazed smirk, his eyes going wide.

"I dare you to go stand outside in front of the kitchen door for five minutes. If you can make it five minutes without running back in in fear, you win the game," Lotor said, and Keith shrugged. "Easy."

Keith got up and went into the kitchen, going outside through the door there. He then closed it securely behind him, but turned in surprise when Lotor locked it. "Just so you don't have a change of heart!" Lotor called, chuckling, and Keith folded his arms and huffed as he turned his back to the door. 

"Bastard," he muttered, and then he glanced around. The air was cool, and the wind that blew his hair into his eyes smelled like pine trees. Keith looked up into the sky. It was black with a thousand tiny white dots, and one large, round moon right in the center of the sky. With as little light as the moon provided, Keith could still see the clouds floating around it, and just ahead of him, he saw the figure of a man. Keith bit the inside of his cheek, but he didn't panic. It was scarier than he'd expected, but it was just Kinkade, he reminded himself. Kinkade would never hurt him. He was just an actor playing a part. 

The figure slowly got closer and closer, moving whenever Keith would look away. Finally, the figure got within a few dozen feet of Keith, and the teenager decided it was getting a little too scary for his liking. He wanted to be let back inside the house. 

"Joker!" Keith called through the door. "how much time do I have left!?"

He waited, but there was no answer. Keith tried to glance inside the house through the kitchen window, and there, were the group had been sitting just before, was a bare floor. The only indicator that they had been there at all was the camera in the kitchen that was still blinking red, filming everything going on inside the kitchen. 

Keith whipped back around to find that the figure was gone, and he didn't like that. Not one bit. 

"I'm done!" Keith yelled into the darkness. "Havana! I'm calling the safeword! I don't want to do this anymore! Havana!" He yelled and yelled, but there was no sound save for the rustling of the trees as a gentle breeze blew. Keith started to back up, his back against the door again, and he banged on the door. He didn't let his eyes leave where he had seen the figure, however, because he was terrified of seeing it again, but closer. 

"Lotor!" he screamed. "Open the door!"

The figure suddenly reappeared next to him, and Ryan cackled like a madman as Keith screamed out. 

"You asshole!" Keith snapped. "I was so scared I nearly pissed myself!" 

"I thought that was the point," Ryan laughed, and Keith groaned. "Didn't you hear me yell the safeword? Whatever. Just help me get back inside. Lotor locked me out."

Ryan shrugged, and with a steady shoulder, the larger, more muscular man broke the door in. Keith gave Ryan a wide-eyed look of surprise, and he shrugged. "I thought you wanted to get inside. If he locked you out and isn't answering, what makes you think he's going to let you in now?"

Keith rolled his eyes and walked in, grabbing the camera. He handed it to Ryan with the instruction to film, but the first place the camera went to was Keith's bubble butt. Keith gave Ryan an unamused look, and Ryan shrugged. "Sorry. It's a nice butt and I thought our viewers would enjoy a good angle of a nice butt. You look great in heels, by the way."

Keith blushed at the compliment, and turned to walk into the foyer so he could call for Lotor up the stairs. "Lotor!? You up there!?" he yelled, and Ryan snickered. "I think you got ditched, Keith," he said, then he pointed with the camera at the open front door. 

"Oh, great," Keith said, then he closed and locked the front door. "Well, this plan went downhill fast."

"We can still fool around," Ryan said. "edit out the rest later."

"I'm not in the mood right now. I'm still freaked out."

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize I scared you that bad."

"How did you do that...that vanishing trick?"

"What vanishing trick?"

"Come on, Kinkade, don't play games with me. You know what trick I'm talking about. The trick in the woods. Every time I looked up, you got closer."

"Keith, I don't know what you're talking about. I was on the side of the house waiting for you to give me my cue."

"Very funny."

Keith turned to go up the stairs, but as he did, all the power in the house suddenly shut off, and Keith groaned in annoyance. "Did you put Lotor up to this?" he asked Ryan, but the man shook his head. 

"This was unscripted. Honest. I'm not a part of this anymore. Maybe the house really is haunted?"

"Yeah, and my middle name really is Cock Warmer. Come on."

"Is it really?"

"Oh great balls of wicked fire."

~

Keith plopped on the couch in the living room upstairs once they had thoroughly searched the house, ultimately defeated. Ryan sat down next to him, setting the camera on the arm of the couch, and then he turned his head towards Keith. 

"What do we do now?" He asked, and Keith shrugged. "Leave, I guess. You drove here, right?"

"Yeah," Ryan said, pulling his keys out of one of the many pouches in his vest. The two walked out of the house towards Ryan's parked Lexus, but when they found there was knives in all four tires, Ryan looked up at Keith a bit angrily. 

"This isn't funny, Keith," he said. "this is a luxury car. Do you have any idea what the tires cost on these things? And I have to get four of them?'

"I didn't do this!" Keith argued. "I've been inside the whole time with you!"

"Maybe not, but you could've texted Lotor or someone else to do it."

"Why would I do that!? I want to leave and go home just as badly as you do!"

Kinkade huffed as he kneeled in front of the car, and he sighed. "you're right. I'm sorry. We should get back inside and call a tow truck then because that means there probably is someone out here."

Keith hugged himself, and glanced around them. He felt it; he felt the pair of eyes somewhere in the dark, watching him. "Yeah, okay."

The two went back inside, and Ryan pulled out his phone, but it showed no bars. "Fuck, no signal. You?"

"Nope."

"Great. And if the power is out, then the landlines are probably out too. I hate to say it, but our best shot is finding a neighbor to call a tow for us."

Keith shook his head. "No. Nope. I'm not going back outside, and you're not leaving me here alone in this house, damn it." 

"Keith, do you like staying in somebody else's house for the night?"

"It's the only option I will accept."

~

"Did you really bring no spare clothes?" Kinkade teased Keith, and Keith glared at him. "They're in the car of the asshole that ditched us in this house."

Kinkade chuckled and pulled his shirt off, tossing it in Keith's direction. "Here. That's the best I can do. I didn't bring boxers cause I didn't realize I was going to stay overnight in a haunted house."

"It's not haunted, one, and two, I have no bottoms."

"So? Is it the first time you've slept in nothing but an oversized t-shirt?"

"No, but...whatever."

Keith peeled his outfit off bit by bit, shorts first, and Kinkade stared a bit hungrily as Keith's body was exposed little by little. Keith cocked his head to the side when he caught Kinkade staring at him, and then he pulled the shirt over his body. It covered up just enough, and Kinkade looked away as Keith stripped off the leggings and boots. 

He pulled the covers back and lay comfortably in bed next to Ryan, curling up. He closed his eyes, but he could feel his insomnia was going to kick his ass today. 

"Hey, Kinkade...?"

"Hmm?"

"Can...can you...just...put your arm on my waist?"

Ryan chuckled softly and rolled over to face Keith, then threw an arm over his waist. Keith relaxed under the protective arm, and in seconds, he was out like a light. 

~

Ryan woke up a bit later in the night to the feeling of a pressure on his chest, and he lifted his head sleepily to inspect the source. Cuddled in his arms and on top of him was Keith, and he couldn't even be mad, because Keith's cheek was squished against Ryan's left pec, relaxed in deep sleep. Ryan lay his head back down to go back to sleep, but a roaming hand found that the shirt he'd lent Keith had lifted a bit underneath the covers, and Ryan's hand found Keith's perfect, warm and round ass. 

"Just go back to sleep," Ryan muttered to himself, but he couldn't escape the thought in the back of his mind. If he was slick enough, he could cop a feel without waking Keith, right? 

No. He wouldn't do that to his friend. Keith trusted him. 

But before he could stop himself, Ryan found himself unconsciously groping Keith's ass, and to his pure shock, Keith straight up moaned. 

Ryan's eyes flew open and he moved his hands immediately, thinking Keith must've woken up at the feeling. He waited for a second, but if Keith had in fact woken up, the teen wasn't making any indication that he was bothered by it. Ryan sighed to himself, and slowly tried to roll over while holding Keith so he could pull Keith's shirt down, but instead, found himself hovering over Keith, and galaxy-colored eyes blinked open sleepily to meet his gaze. 

"Ryan..?" Keith mumbled. 

"Hey. It's okay. I was just going to go to the bathroom. I'm sorry I woke you."

Keith whined softly and wrapped his arms around Ryan's neck as the man tried to get up, not letting him leave. Ryan was shocked when Keith wrapped his legs around Ryan's waist instead, holding him down and pressing their chests together.

"Keith, I have to-"

"Don't go. I want you to stay."

"But Keith, I'm going to crush you-"

"I want you to," Keith answered, his eyes opening once again to look up into Ryan's. Ryan gulped hard. He was not getting any softer. 

Keith then cupped Ryan's cheek and closed the distance between them to kiss him, sleepy and sloppy but hot. Ryan felt Keith press his own hips up into the other's, and he couldn't take it anymore.

Ryan let his hands wander up Keith's shirt as they exchanged breathless kisses, and Keith continued to roll his hips up into Ryan's. It was bliss, until Ryan decided he wanted more. He wanted to see Keith's face twisted in pleasure, just for him. 

Ryan moved his hand down Keith's body and between his legs, collecting the wetness between Keith's folds and using it to slicken his path as he pressed two fingers into Keith's soaked hole. Keith yanked away from the kiss to tilt his head back and gasp, tightening the grip his legs already held on Kinkade's waist. 

Just as Keith was starting to moan and squirm and writhe in Ryan's grasp against the fingers inside him, the two heard the sound of glass shattering downstairs. Ryan stopped and turned his head towards the sound, listening past Keith's desperate pants to see if he could hear the sound of someone downstairs. 

"Ryan, please," Keith whispered sleepily. "Please don't stop."

"Shh. I hear something downstairs. I think someone's inside the house. Stay here, okay?"

"No, no, don't leave me-" Keith tried to stop him, but Ryan had already climbed out of bed and was on his way downstairs. Keith waited patiently and silently, watching the cracked-open door for when Ryan would walk back in. His eyes weren't entirely adjusted to how dark it was in the house, but he could see the man that walked back inside the room. Keith smiled softly, and sat up in bed. 

"Don't think you're off the hook for leaving me all alone up here after you got me so worked up," Keith said seductively, but his blood ran cold when he heard the voice that came out of the man that sat at the edge of the bed. 

"I think you should lay back and go back to sleep now," the man said, and Keith started to scramble back on the bed, away from the man. "Who are you!? Where's Ryan!?" he demanded, and the man stabbed a needle into Keith's thigh. Keith cried out in pain, but seconds later, he was dizzy and fading from this world. "Your friend is gone, and soon, you will be gone from this world too," the man said, and that was the last thing Keith heard before his world went black.


	9. From Death Departed

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance brings his friends home for the Halloween festivities of Dia de los Muertos, to show them a little something they could do instead of passing out candy at Halloween. There's going to be festivities, fun, food, and ghosts!  
Until a tragedy hits the family.
> 
> "Want some help?" Hunk asked, walking up beside Keith. His raven-haired friend's galaxy eyes focused hard on the amp sitting in front of Keith. Wires were never Keith's expertise, so Hunk thought he'd lend a hand. Their band had been practicing all day until the amp mysteriously went out without explanation, so now Keith was fixing it in an attempt to avoid buying a new one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote a whole thing for this but, uhh....fuck it. I'm too lazy to do it again. 
> 
> I'm just going to point out that I know that Cubanos don't celebrate Dia de los Muertos, but I thought it would be fun to bring this tradition into Lance's home since I know so much about it. I've always wanted to go to my mom's hometown in Mexico and celebrate with family; it'd be so cool. 
> 
> It took the better part of two days to write this, and this chapter is a thick boi, so please, enjoy. 
> 
> Warnings: Tags will change for this one. Demons, darkness, mental illness, major character death

"Fuck," Keith said, his tongue piercing clacking against his teeth as he yanked his finger back and shook his hand out. "that's the fifth fucking time this thing has electrocuted me."

"Want some help?" Hunk asked, walking up beside Keith. His raven-haired friend's galaxy eyes focused hard on the amp sitting in front of Keith. Wires were never Keith's expertise, so Hunk thought he'd lend a hand. Their band had been practicing all day until the amp mysteriously went out without explanation, so now Keith was fixing it in an attempt to avoid buying a new one. 

Keith stood back and let Hunk mess with the wiring for a minute. The larger man then bolted the back of the amp back together, and stood up with a smile. "Got it," Hunk said, and Keith thanked him. 

"Thanks, man. I guess that means practice is over for now," he said, running a hand through the short, wavy mullet he wore. He turned to his bandmates, and waved his hands as they started packing their equipment to leave. 

"Hey guys, I was just invited back to my hometown for the weekend," Lance suddenly said with his phone raised in the air. "my sister says I can bring friends. You wanna come?"

"Halloween is this weekend," Pidge chimed in without looking up from her laptop. 

"So?" 

"So I wanna go trick-or-treating."

"Keith and I wanted to dress up and pass out candy this year at his mom's," Shiro added. 

"Come on," Lance said, leaning forward without dropping the tiny, delicate and well-manicured hand he held in his. "Allura's coming, and there will be plenty of food, candy, and other crap. It's fun, trust me. You guys will enjoy Dia de los Muertos. It's actually really cool. It's just like Halloween here, but with a touch of Christmas in there."

"So we go door to door to get presents instead of candy?" Allura asked as she playfully nipped Lance's knuckles. 

"No, it's more like...you leave presents for deceased love ones, make food, decorate your house, then eat for three days. Plus, the beaches are fantastic. Clear waters as far as the eye can see. You can actually watch fish swimming around; they're so beautiful."

Keith sat down in Shiro's lap at the request of the older's unspoken need to cuddle, and let Shiro wrap his arms around Keith's waist. He would've gotten embarrassed about it, but after three years of being together, and since they were around their friends, Keith was able to let himself enjoy the unadulterated affection. 

"Well, I guess it would be nice to enjoy a little warmer weather," Keith said, and Shiro playfully poked Keith. "You would go for the warm weather, you cold-blooded reptile-hybrid."

"I can't help if I'd make a better apex predator than you. I enjoy the life of a snake."

"Mmmm, you're more like a lizard than a snake with the way you use your tongue-"

"Do you get wifi out there?" Pidge interrupted, trying to change the conversation from the direction it was going. She didn't need to know any more about tongues than she already did.

"At my mom's? Yeah. Sis got it not too long ago so we could FaceTime more," Lance said, and Pidge shrugged. "I'll go. Why not?"

"Yeah, I'll bite too," Hunk said, scratching his eyebrow. "sounds like fun."

Lance's grin widened, and then he turned to Shiro and Keith. The two looked on at Lance with the same almost indecisive look. It was amusing, to say the least. 

"Okay! Okay, we'll go, geez," Keith said. "damn. Don't gotta entice me with those big damn puppy eyes anymore. Those only work on Allura."

"Do not!" Allura protested, but the argument was lost. 

~

"This is it?" Keith asked, a bit impressed. The house in front of him was massive, and he was sure that this would be considered a mansion anywhere else in the world. Of course, the peach-colored house was just as big as the rest on the block, so Keith wasn't even sure that anyone on that street in that neighborhood knew this and did it on purpose, or were just filthy rich. 

"Yeah, don't ask about it," Lance said to not just Keith, but all his friends. "Mom married a well man and she doesn't like talking about it."

The rest of the group was silent, and just carried their bags inside. After all, they were here because they had been coerced with the promise of a good time, not to judge where Lance's family came from. "I thought you said you grew up with the farmer life, love," Allura whispered gently to Lance, and Lance bit his lip. "Yeah, I was. We are farmers. Just...trust me when I say don't ask anymore, okay?"

A tall, dark-skinned man with the slicked-back hair look of Scarface opened the front door, and immediately, the group's eyes all went to the full-sized Bengal tiger laying on the floor of the lounge room to the left. Its' tail thumped against the plush white rug, and the girl sitting on the couch that sat facing the tiger's back sprung to her feet to greet Lance. 

"Lance!" she giggled, pouncing on Lance and wrapping her small arms around his neck. Lance caught her in his arms, and held her close. "Xi, I thought I told you to put Maui away when I get here. I don't want him scaring everybody."

"Yeah, not like it's not normal to be terrified of a giant man-eating tiger just chilling in your living room," Hunk retorted sarcastically, and Lance chuckled. "Don't worry. He's been domesticated. He's actually very friendly. Guys, this is Xiquana, my niece. Her mother, Veronica, should be in the kitchen with my mom. You guys can go upstairs if you want to pick out your rooms. I'm just going to say hi to my family real quick and put Maui away."

Pidge clacked the gum in her mouth with a quizzical expression on her face that Hunk wore as well, and Keith and Shiro exchanged looks. 

"First one upstairs gets the biggest room?" Hunk said, and in a second, the four were racing up the stairs to find the biggest room they could. Allura laughed, and turned to tangle her fingers with Lance's as he walked into the kitchen. 

~

NIGHT ONE

"Ha! I win again, now you have to do a strip tease for me," Shiro sang, wiggling in his spot on the bed. Keith huffed, and set the cards in his hand down so he could get up. "I don't know why you're so upbeat about this. One more round and you have to get completely naked."

Shiro grinned. "You say that, but I'm the one watching you take your clothes off right now. I'm on a roll and nobody, not even you, can stop me."

Keith threw his shirt at Shiro, then turned his back to the older Japanese man. He took his time peeling his jeans off, letting Shiro enjoy seeing the outline of his round ass and thick, muscular thighs through the boxers he wore. Shiro leaned forward and leaned his chin on his palm, a grin on his face. 

Just as soon as it had started, though, Keith's strip session ended when they heard a scream downstairs. Keith and Shiro both dressed as fast as they could, and then the two were downstairs, where the small group of friends gathered in the first living room to the source of the scream. 

A brunette woman that looked like she could be Lance's twin was watching with wide blue eyes of horror as the small child earlier sitting with Maui sat on the perch above the fireplace, suspended 35 feet in the air. 

"How the..?" Keith began, and Lance walked in with a ladder. "She says she was playing a game with someone and they dared her to climb up there. We're not sure how she got up there, but we're just trying to get her down first."

Lance leaned the ladder against the wall, and Allura waved at Shiro and Keith to help her hold the tall ladder steady as Lance climbed up for the small child. The two rushed to her aid, but to all of their fear, the ladder reached just short of the child. 

"Shiro, you're taller than all of us. Think you can get up here and get Xixi down?" Lance asked, and Shiro nodded, but all eyes were on the girl at what she said next.

"No! He doesn't want me to get down," she said. "he wants me to stay up here for until he says. Then I win the game."

"Xixi, who!?" Veronica cried desperately. "who is he!?"

"He's my friend!"

"No friend would put you in the face of danger like that," Allura said, and Lance nodded. "she's right. So Uncle Shiro is going to come up and get you, okay?"

"He won't be happy if you do that," Xixi said, but the adults all ignored her comment. 

The second Lance got down, Shiro climbed up the tall ladder to reach the girl. He came up just a head short, but it wasn't anything he was going to let stop him. 

"Xixi, I want you to jump down into my arms, okay?" Shiro said as he reached up for her. "I'll catch you. Trust me."

Xixi shook her head and brought her knees to her chest, making sure there was no chance that Shiro would touch her. 

"Xiquana Alba McClain, you do as the man says or you'll be in big trouble, young lady," Veronica called up to her daughter, but Xixi still didn't listen. "My friend, Ama! He'll do bad things if I get down. I'll lose the game and he'll do very bad things."

Shiro sighed, and turned back to look down at Keith. "Babe, you used to free run, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I don't-"

"You think you can climb up here and get her?"

"I'm too heavy for the perch, Shiro. I step on that thing and both of us fall."

Shiro then glanced at Pidge, who took a step back in fear. "Oh no. I'm afraid of heights, Shiro. I can't."

"I'm right here. I won't let you fall. Please, Pidge, you're the only one light enough to stand up there."

Hunk rested a hand on Pidge's shoulder with a smile. "If you fall, I'll catch you. Promise. We're all here for you. Trust us."

Pidge bit her lip, but started to climb up the ladder anyway. When she was able to reach Shiro's hand, he pulled her up the rest of the way, and the small teenager climbed up onto the perch with Xixi. "Hi," she said gently. "listen. I'm really scared right now, so do you think you could do me a favor and come down with me? I need somebody to hold my hand so I'm not so scared."

Xixi looked down at the expectant adults and her worried mother, then back at Pidge. The group let out collective sounds of relief as Xixi grabbed Pidge's hand tightly, and then Pidge lowered Xixi into Shiro's arms. He climbed down the ladder carefully, and just as he was halfway down, he handed Xixi to a crying Veronica, but the ordeal wasn't over yet. As Pidge slowly climbed down the ladder, it began to shake, even with the six hands holding it steady. Pidge and Shiro slipped from the ladder, both free-falling the remainder of feet they had left. 

Shiro had less to land, so he was able to land like a cat on the ground, but Pidge didn't have such luck. She fell from the almost full 35 feet up in the air, letting out a gasp of surprise. She closed her eyes tight, not wanting to see the floor coming rapidly at her, and her breath was knocked out of her as she collided with something. 

To her shock, however, it wasn't the floor, but instead, it was Keith, who had released his grip on the ladder just in time to leap at Pidge and absorb the fall with a tuck and roll of his body across the carpet. Shaking, Pidge clutched his shirt, and sensing she was probably in a great deal of shock, Keith held her even as he stood up straight from his catlike landing.

"Good job, Keith," Shiro smiled proudly, and Lance rubbed Keith's back. "You alright, buddy?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll probably be feeling it in the morning, but I'm fine," he answered, and then Pidge allowed herself to be let down from Keith's arms. 

"You okay?" Hunk asked, and Pidge nodded shakily. "Fine. Th-thanks, Keith. Let's just go back to bed, yeah?"

~

"You still awake, amor?" Lance asked Allura as he rolled over in bed to hug his girlfriend from behind. 

"Yeah," Allura whispered, letting him wrap his arms around her. "I just can't stop thinking about what Xixi said; her friend I mean."

"Kids have wild imaginations, okay? Don't worry about it."

"Yeah, I know, Lance. I know what imaginary friends are. I used to have them as a child. But it was always innocent play. Dress up, talking and playing board games, or reading and things like that. Never did any of my imaginary friends plant the idea into my head that I should climb 35 feet to a perch above a fireplace. How did she even get up in there in the first place? You saw. Even Shiro couldn't reach that high on the tallest ladder you owned."

"Kids are crazy monkeys. She probably climbed up there-"

"On what, Lance?" Allura asked as she sat up. "the fireplace? Even then, there's nothing but flat brick and rock wall for her to climb for six feet. How did a child her age climb all the way up there like that?"

"Mi amor, it's okay. It's okay. Once you have children, you'll understand. They get themselves into the weirdest predicaments and can sometimes give you a heart attack with the things they do. You'd be surprised how much of a climber Xixi is. The important thing is we got her down safe. Now listen, I'm going downstairs to get you a glass of water, okay? You stay here."

~

Keith had just fallen asleep when he heard the faint sound of a door opening, but he didn't register someone walking into the room. He wrote it off as Shiro's insomnia taking ahold of him again, making him wander around and in and out of the room as usual. Keith rolled over then; half onto his stomach and half onto his side. The blankets rolled with him in his attempt, but he could barely care. The cold air felt nice on his exposed thighs and back, and he didn't let it bother him either when he felt a pair of warm hands slide into his boxers and grope his ass subtly. 

"Mmm, Shiro, I'm tired," he mumbled, but the voice he heard speak back to him wasn't Shiro's. "I don't mind. Just lay there, my sleepy love, and I'll do the rest."

Keith jolted awake and quickly covered himself up, glancing around the room. His heart pounded in his chest and his heavy breathing echoed in the empty room, but the thing that horrified him the most was that Shiro was fast asleep next to him. 

Keith teared up a bit, but fought the rest back as he shook Shiro awake. "Shiro, baby, wake up. I think there's someone in our room."

Shiro groaned and cracked his eyes open sleepily. "What?"

"Shh! Do you hear that?" Keith asked, and just as the two went silent, they could hear the sound of footsteps stomping around in the hallway; the boots of a heavy man clacked against the cold tile. Shiro got up slowly, and Keith followed silently as Shiro moved for the door. 

"I'm going to check who it is," Shiro whispered. "you stay here."

Keith made a face of displeasure at Shiro. "I'm not some damsel in distress, Shiro. I have a dick."

"Hush!" Shiro shushed Keith sharply, and when he did, the footsteps had stopped. Keith glanced around the room, then looked over at the connected bathroom, and rushed to it. Shiro looked quizzically at Keith, but when the younger returned with a small glass mirror, Shiro raised his eyebrows in surprise instead. 

Keith slid the mirror slowly under the door jam, trying to angle it to get a look at who was in the hallway. His eyes struggled to look for something in the darkness, but just as he was focusing on something white standing in the middle of the hallway, the light flickered on, and simultaneously, the mirror in Shiro and Keith's bathroom shattered violently with an inhuman shriek. 

Keith slammed backwards into the door, his eyes wide and his hands going over his mouth. He couldn't believe what he just heard; something that would haunt him for the rest of his life, no doubt, would be that awful sound. 

Shiro grabbed Keith and pulled him away from the door, then opened it just as the others were coming out of their rooms. 

"What happened?" Allura asked, and Lance popped out from behind her to rush into Keith and Shiro's room. 

"Guys?" Pidge called as she rubbed her eyes. "everything alright?"

"Yeah, what's going on?" Hunk asked from the doorway of his room across Pidge's. 

"Is everyone okay?" Veronica asked as she popped her head out of her room.

"Stay inside your rooms," Shiro said sternly. "Pidge, Keith is going to sleep with you tonight. Hunk, I'll be in your room."

Pidge looked sleepily at the floor as Shiro guided a shaking Keith to her room, and once they had closed the door, Shiro went back to his room to help Lance clean up the glass.

~

Lance looked down at his cup of coffee, speechless. He didn't know what to say, so he asked the same question again. 

"You heard a what?" he asked, and Shiro ran a hand through his hair. "I heard a...a demonic shriek. And then the glass shattered."

"And nobody was in the hallway?"

"No."

"Are you sure? I mean, Xixi has a habit of sleepwalking sometimes. Maybe she was walking around and you saw her and she screamed because you both scared her."

"That doesn't explain the heavy footsteps and the glass shattering," Shiro retorted, and Lance shrugged. "I'm sorry. I don't know what to say. This house doesn't have a history of being haunted and I've never had any problems like this in the past."

"Didn't...you say you have an older brother and sister as well?"

"Yeah. Lee and Ana. They'll be here later today. Why?"

"Is it possible they got here last night? You said before Lee used to play pranks on you all the time as a kid."

"Yeah, mmm...I guess it is possible. I'll ask my mom, and then I'll look for their cars, okay? For now, you should go enjoy the beach with Keith. I'm sure that he's still shaken."

Shiro nodded, then got up and went out into the backyard, walking towards the private beach area that all the residents shared on that section of land. Keith sat with Allura at the base of the tide, letting themselves get wet as they searched for crabs. Shiro smiled at the sight, and he sat down with them to pull Keith close into his arms. 

"You alright?" Shiro asked, and Keith scoffed. "I'm fine, Shiro. I'm not made of glass."

"Like our broken mirror?"

"Not funny."

"Sorry." Shiro gathered a handful of sand, and shuffled a bit to dig through the little pile and find a baby hermit crab. "Look," he said softly to Keith, but Keith seemed more interested in something unseen on the horizon. Allura glanced worriedly at Shiro, but he shook his head. It would be for the best that they didn't say anything about this. Keith never wanted to talk about things if something traumatic happened to him. He'd shove it into the recesses of his mind instead, and while that wasn't entirely healthy for him, Shiro knew Keith would talk about it when he was ready. 

~

Lance chuckled as he raised his beer and saluted his family members. They were all laughing about some dumb joke in Spanish that Allura couldn't understand, but she lay in Lance's lap with her legs tangled in his all the same, smiling. Lance glanced over at Hunk who was entertaining the cooks with his culinary flipping tricks with spatulas, and smiled. He then glanced over at where Pidge was typing away on her laptop, while Lee tried endlessly to get her attention and flirt with her. His hopeless brother had no idea she had wireless headphones in her ears. 

Lance chuckled and looked finally over at Shiro and Keith. Shiro was eating and politely engaging in conversation with other family members, learning and absorbing everything about the culture that he possibly could. Keith seemed out of it, though; he was sitting next to Shiro and just staring blankly at his full plate of food, not even so much as blinking. For a brief moment, Lance wondered, what is it that Keith had seen when he put the mirror underneath the door?

His thoughts disappeared into the back of his mind when another family member standing with them asked how Lance and Allura met. 

~

NIGHT TWO

Pidge slept soundly in her bed, sprawled out like a starfish on top of Keith's back, but her friend didn't seem to mind. The weight on his back was like a reminder of laying in bed with Shiro, the older man's comforting weight pressing into him with the constant relief of safety. However, this night, Keith couldn't really sleep, even with that blanket of human being over him. He felt safe, but he didn't at the same time. He was terrified to move for sure, and scared that at any second, once Pidge rolled over and off of him, something would come out from under the bed and drag him underneath with it. 

Keith turned his head to glance at the clock. 4:47am. He would have to wake up in a few hours to go explore the town markets with Shiro like he'd promised. He yawned silently, then turned his head over to look at the other side of the room and stare at the wall. It wasn't much of an interesting wall; it eggshell white paint on it, a few painted flowers on the bottom just above the trim, and just as he studied the flowers, the walls began to rot and peel slowly. Rust took over the edges of the walls, and to his horror, two clawed hands slowly appeared from under the bed and started to peel the blankets off of he and Pidge. 

Without waking her, Keith carefully rolled Pidge over onto her side of the bed, and he sat up with his arm over her body to protect her from the now 10-odd pairs of hands tearing at the sheets and clawing their way towards him, ever-so painfully slow. Keith tried to control himself, but his heart began to pound in his chest, and his breathing was speeding up without him realizing it. He had to control himself, he had to. It was all fake. He had fallen asleep and now he was dreaming a horrible dream. If only. 

The doorknob rattled for a second, and then inch by excruciating inch, the door peeked open, and standing there, was Lance's mother. Thinking she had come up to check on him, Keith let out a sigh of relief, but the hands didn't fade away. Instead, they grabbed his ankles, and pulled hard, sending Keith down the bed and to the floor. 

With the air vehemently knocked out of him, Keith gasped, but it was all he was allowed to let out. Lance's mother stalked over to Keith as one of the clawed hands shoved its' fingers into Keith's mouth and down his throat. Keith gagged and teared up, and Lance's mother grinned wickedly at him. 

Keith closed his eyes tightly. Not like this, not like this, please, God, don't let it happen like this. 

His eyes shot open again when he heard a shrill, high-pitched scream, and the lights in the hallway flickered on. Veronica bolted for her daughter and snatched the girl up into her arms, but not without glancing and seeing Keith on the floor with her mother standing over him. 

"Ama!" she shouted. "deja'lo empas! Que haces?" 

The clawed hands vanished, and Keith wasted no time bolting past the family now looking at him oddly. He went straight across the hall to Hunk's room, and climbed into bed and into Shiro's confused arms. 

~

"I'm so sorry," Lance said to Keith gently. "My mom...I didn't want to tell you guys because I was afraid...you would get scared. My mom has dementia. She...she does some strange things sometimes. I'm sure she meant you no harm, Keith."

Keith was sitting upright in Shiro's arms, leaning back against his older partner with his knees drawn up to his chest. He hadn't said a word of what had happened; Lance's mother had told them everything. Between her count and Xixi's count, Lance figured what happened couldn't have been any fun for Keith. 

"I'm sorry I brought you here," Lance said to Keith. "if you wanna go home, I'll send you back now."

"Yes," Keith said quietly. "I want to go home, Shiro. Now. Please."

Shiro sighed and wrapped his arms tighter around Keith. "Keith, I know you want to go home because of what you've been through. I don't want to stop you, okay? But...I can't go with you. I would like to stay and hang out a little bit."

Keith turned around and looked up at Shiro as if the Japanese man had just slapped him across the face. "What?"

"I would like to stay," Shiro repeated. "I just...it's nice here. It's a break away from home, and it's...it's nice. The beaches, the people, the culture. I...want to stay."

Keith turned back to Lance, then looked down at the sheets. It was just for one more night. One more night, and then they would be leaving the next day. He could stand one more night, right?

"Alright, then I'm staying with you," Keith said quietly. "but we're staying in our own room. If anything happens, I want you to be nearby."

Shiro smiled and wrapped his arms around Keith once more. "Always."

~

NIGHT THREE

Keith awoke that night to the sound of footsteps. As part of the agreement that night, Shiro had slept with him, but not in their room. The group had all brought their beds down and piled into the large lounge room with Maui to sleep together with Keith, so this time, if anything happened, they'd all be prepared. Even little Xixi had offered her favorite stuffed animal to Keith to keep him comfortable. 

Now, as Keith heard those loud, clunky footsteps once more, they were coming down the steps and towards the group sleeping in the lounge room. 

Maui's head lifted, and the tiger must've sensed danger, because a low grumble that sounded more like a dangerous purr rumbled in the back of his throat, and Keith suddenly felt safer. Nothing could hurt him with that tiger there. 

Next to him, Shiro slept soundly, until Keith shook him awake. "What is it, Keith?" he asked sleepily, and Keith slapped a hand over his mouth. 

"Shh. Listen."

As the footsteps got louder, Maui began to growl warningly louder and louder, until suddenly, the person walking down the stairs started to throw the paintings and pictures along the staircase walls down the stairs. With each shatter of tumbling glass picture after another, the others began to wake up, until finally, the steps stopped at the archway in the lounge room. Everyone was silent, even though they were just woken up by such a loud commotion, and nobody made a move as Maui slowly stalked towards the archway, teeth bared. He stopped just shy of the archway, still snarling, but after a second, his head suddenly twisted with a loud and sharp crack. The girls all screamed, and Xixi started to cry. In the dark, somehow, someone found the lights, and they were flipped on just as Lance slid to a kneel next to Maui's body. 

"Everyone stay calm," Lance called. "it's alright. Stay calm. Veronica, I'm going to find Mom. You stay here and keep everyone together. I will call for you if I need help, okay?"

"No, no, fuck that, I'm not staying down here," Veronica said, and Lee rubbed the back of his head. "Vero, you and Ana come with me. We'll all go and look for Ama. Everyone else can stay down here."

Lance made a face, but knew he couldn't argue with his older brother. It was a lost argument before it ever began.

The four made their way upstairs, carefully avoiding shards of broken glass. What they found when they reached their mother's room, however, was a sight none of them were expecting. 

~

"How much longer, Shiro?" Keith whispered. "I don't want to stay here anymore, please. I just want to go home."

"Shhh, not much longer now. It'll be alright, okay? You'll be okay," he answered, then he turned to Hunk. "come on. We're going to go up there and look for them. I want to know what's taking so long."

Hunk pouted. "Damn it, there's a reason why they don't cast Asians in horror movies, Shiro."

"Yeah, well I don't know about you, but I'm part samurai, so I'd like to see something come at me. Come on."

The two ascended the steps carefully, avoiding the glass as they walked. 

"Shiro, I really don't like the vibes I'm getting up here," Hunk said. "why can't we just call the police or something?"

"What are we going to tell the police? We heard a ghost stomping around the house and then it killed the illegal animal Lance's family was harboring in secret?"

"Okay, you've got a point there. But just because your ancestors were samurai doesn't mean you genetically inherit their abilities. Plus, aren't you only half or something?"

"Shh! I hear someone," Shiro said, and he slowly crept towards a cracked-open door. When they got inside the room, they found more blood splattered on the walls and in the room than one lone human could ever possibly have in their body at a time, and hanging by her neck from the cord that pulls the attic door open, was Veronica. 

Hunk gagged and raced to the nearest trash can to throw up. This was worse than the escape room they had all done together on New Year's Eve. 

Shiro sighed to himself, and turned to go back downstairs and get his phone, but as he turned, Veronica suddenly started to giggle childishly. Shiro whipped back around to look at her, and she grinned wide, then kicked out the keepsake chest from underneath her feet that neither of the men had noticed. Shiro slapped a hand over his mouth as he watched her head jerk and snap loudly, and the door to the attic lowered. The ladder folded out automatically with it as her body weight pulled the door open, and Hunk coughed as he walked up to stand beside Shiro. 

"Okay, I'm just saying, the darker your skin color, the faster you die in horror movies," he said. "so if I were you, I'd ask Keith; your white asses will be fine."

Shiro sighed. "Hunk, calm down. Go get my phone from downstairs and call for help, okay? I'm going upstairs to the attic to see if I can find the others."

"Just...man, don't go up there alone!" Hunk whined as Shiro climbed the ladder up into the attic. "It had to be me," he mumbled, then turned and ran downstairs to find the others and a phone. 

~

Shiro coughed heavily as he stepped up into the dusty attic, and waved his hand to shoo away dust particles, but ended up tangling his fingers in cobwebs. "Fantastic," he mumbled to himself, but continued forward. "Lance? Lee! Ana! If you guys can hear me, say something!"

He stopped and went quiet when he heard a shuffling noise behind him, and whipped around to look. A flash of black ran into Shiro's left, getting dangerously close to him. In an attempt to back up and keep from getting hurt, Shiro fell back, but jumped a little too far. 

He fell through the hole the attic door left in the ceiling, and just as he was about to drop down the stairs, a body just barely smaller than his caught him, and Keith looked at Shiro with dark, galaxy-colored eyes. "You alright?" he whispered, and Shiro let out a sigh of relief. He left a long kiss on Keith's forehead, then climbed up back into the attic. 

"I'm fine, baby," he said quietly. "what about you? You shouldn't be up here."

"Hunk told me something about my whiteness protecting me," Keith answered, and Shiro snorted. "of course he did. Come on, babe. Stay close to me."

The two explored the attic with the flashlight Keith had brought, and when they came to the far north corner of the attic, there in a pool of blood, lay Ana, a knife deep in her chest. 

"Oh-!" Shiro exclaimed softly, and he turned to cover Keith's eyes. Keith turned away and continued exploring the attic. "Shiro, come on. We still have to find Lance. Hunk is downstairs calling for help-"

He was suddenly interrupted by the sound of a woman screaming as glass shattered, and they heard a loud thump outside. Shiro and Keith both raced to the round window in the dead center wall of the attic, but it was too late. The glass had been broken, and down below in the red grass, Lance's body lay on the ground. The scream had no doubt come from Allura. 

Shiro and Keith both raced down the ladder and downstairs to rejoin the group in the lounge room, but when they did, the power cut out, and standing at the windows were several tall figures in black cloaks. 

Allura screamed again, and Pidge and Shiro hurriedly closed the tall drapes.

"Help me!" Keith shouted to Hunk as he tried to push the couch against the window, and Hunk helped him. They propped it up against the window, but a hand broke through the glass anyway. It reached around the couch and grabbed ahold of Keith's arm, trying to pull him outside with inhuman strength. Keith grit his teeth as he braced his feet against the baseboards of the window for resistance, but he felt with the strength this creature was pulling him, his arm would rip off any second. 

He flinched back when he heard a loud bang, and a hole tore through the creature's arm. It let out a demonic shriek and released Keith right away, receding back to the darkness. 

Shiro grabbed Keith and pulled him quickly away from the window, then helped him to his feet. Shakily, Allura ran to Keith's side, still holding the gun she had just fired at the creature in her hand. 

"Are you alright?" she asked him, and he nodded. "where did you find the gun?"

"The family is armed to the teeth," Allura said. "there's something I have to tell you all. Lance confided this in me and asked me not to tell anyone, but I'm going to have to anyway, since we're in a life-or-death situation."

She raced to the kitchen, her friends following close behind, and she pulled out several large and powerful guns; including a shotgun; from the cabinets. "Lance's family is full of farmers. But Lance's grandfather was poor. Extremely poor. His grandmother was tired of the constant scrounging and pinching of every penny, so she made a deal with the devil. They would devote their lives to building a cult; every generation, a newborn baby boy would be sacrificed to the demon surrounding the family. If this was met, then they would make it in life. They did, and sacrificed Lance's oldest uncle to the demon. The next day, their fields were plentiful with crops, but not the kind you'd think."

"They're drug peddlers," Keith said softly as Allura handed him a gun. 

"Yes," she answered. "they make and sell coke. Smuggle it into the States and make a hell of a living at it. But when Lee was born, Maria couldn't sacrifice her oldest son. Instead, she surrounded herself with all things God to protect her and her family. It worked, but...not for long. Maria isn't suffering from dementia. She's possessed, and she's not going to stop until she takes the life of a newborn boy."

"Then why is she after Keith?" Shiro asked. Allura stopped, and bit her lip. "the demon was trying to take possession of Keith's body. It prefers a male host. It was going to kill all of us and take...me."

"Why you?" Pidge asked, and she was sorry she did a second later.

"Because I'm pregnant with a boy," Allura blurted. "we know it's a boy. Just got the gender reveal back less than a week ago."

The group was awkwardly silent for a minute, and then they heard a loud, quick banging coming from upstairs, as if someone with big boots had just broken into the house through one of the bedrooms and was racing towards them. 

"Back to back, quick!" Shiro said, and the group all made a circle in the center of the kitchen, weapons raised. They waited as the sounds of banging got closer and closer, until finally, a thick, tall figure appeared at the kitchen entrance. Tendrils of black, ink-like smoke rolled from where feet should be, and it stood still for a second. The group watched silently as it just stood there, until it raced straight for Keith, knocking the wind out of him and breaking up the group.

Maria wrestled Keith underneath her on the floor, and wrapped her fingers tight around his throat. Keith gasped, fighting her and trying to push her off of him as the others tried to figure out what was happening and where their weapons went. 

Pidge managed to get ahold of a handgun that was still warm; probably the one Allura just fired. She pointed it straight at Maria, then fired into the dark. "Run!" she screamed, and Keith shoved the limp body off of him as he coughed and gasped for air. Shiro grabbed Keith's hand, yanked him onto his feet, and the rest of the group bolted out of the house straight to the first parked car in the driveway. 

~

Allura giggled as the baby boy in her arms blew bubbles at her. Keith smiled and handed her a pacifier, which she rested in the boy's mouth. 

"He's so cute," Hunk said as the infant grabbed one of Hunk's fingers and squeezed. 

"He is," Shiro laughed. "good job, Allura."

"Thank you," Allura smiled, and she stood up. "I'm going to put him down for a nap though. I'm tired, so I know for a fact he's tired too."

She turned to go into the bedroom and put her baby boy down for a nap, smiling gently at him. She then lay down herself in her bed next to his crib, knowing that she had her friends in the house with her and she was safe. It was finally over. 

~

Allura woke a few hours later, but it wasn't to the sound of her baby crying. Instead, it was to the sound of his laughter, and she was about to turn to look and see why he was laughing, but she relaxed when she saw Keith standing over his crib. She lay back down with a smile, and closed her eyes once more. What she didn't see, however, was the blood covering his face and shirt or the bloody knife in his hand. If he had turned around, or if she had went up to her son's crib, she would've seen this. 

But it wouldn't have made a difference. She still would've ended up with a knife in her chest, gasping and bleeding to death as Keith carried her crying son away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to remind everyone that your comments are welcome if you have some critique (within a reasonable wording) or if you just want to write a comment about how much you enjoyed this chapter. If there's anything you guys would like to see in the future, do let me know! I am very open to ideas and in fact, I encourage them as I write these chapters with no outline or plan. 
> 
> I want to add something else. I know there's going to be someone out there that's going to take offense to a certain comment Hunk made about "the darker-skinned you are, the faster you die in a horror movie". It's poking fun at the clever observation made by others, not at the fact that it is racist. There is no offensive intent behind this comment, and those who will take offense to it, I do apologize, but there is no offense intended in making fun of the observation. Again, he was making fun of an observation, not at the fact that there may be a conscious racist decision at killing any race first, regarding their color of skin. 
> 
> Let me ask you this. If you were in this situation, would you want to go into the attic?


	10. On Our Own

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Kill Bill based) Keith is the heir to a very prestigious throne-the syncopate that he's in (Blade of Marmora)'s head of order is his fiancee, Shirogane Takashi. While out on a training mission, however, Keith comes back to find that their entire dojo has been raided, and everyone inside it, including Shiro, has been killed. Keith sets out to find these murderers, but when he finally finds the one that issued the order, it's Shiro.  
Can he really slay the love of his life? His entire life and everything he knows is a manipulative lie based around Shiro, who only wanted Keith to be the best so Keith could succeed him one day and rule the Blades as he's supposed to.  
Everyone's names are based on different types of snakes. The deadlier of a snake name you receive, the deadlier you are. Keith was ranked Black Mamba when it all began, and Shiro was ranked the deadliest of them all-the Japanese Taipan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THERE IS SEXUAL CONTENT AHEAD. 
> 
> I know I said there wasn't going to be any sexual content before, just lots of heated fluffiness, I couldn't help but get carried away while writing one scene in the beginning of the story. I hope you all enjoy, and for kiddies on the 17 and younger side, shield your eyes and go back now.

It was a cold Winter morning when Keith woke up that morning in a sweat. From his head to his toes, he was drenched, and he stared at the ceiling as he tried to calm his breathing.

That was the fourth time this month he'd had the same nightmare. It was always the same-he was running, running in the darkness-and then slowly, he lost his fingers, toes, legs and arms, until he was a snake, slithering rapidly towards something. He could never see what it was, but somehow, he knew that there was somewhere he was supposed to go, something he was supposed to get to. Faster and faster he would go, and then his mouth would open, revealing sharp, venomous fangs, and just before he could sink his teeth, he would wake up.

Keith took a hot shower that morning, letting the steamy water rise up with the wind of the open outdoor shower he stood in against the mountains. It was a beautiful morning in Okinawa, and Keith couldn't be happier to be there.

Well, he could, actually, he thought as the source of this thought climbed into the shower with him.

A cheek rested on his wet head gently, and large, bulging arms of muscle wrapped around Keith's body. Keith hummed happily and let Shiro embrace him, enjoying the moment of silence between them.

"Morning, Sensei," he whispered finally, breaking the peace. "what are we doing today?"

"Hmmm," Shiro mumbled, thinking on it for a moment. He then grinned wide at Keith, and scooped the teen into his arms so he could lift and pin Keith to the wall of the outdoor shower. Keith let out a squeal and a giggle; as undignified as it was for him, a pupil and hardened samurai under _THE_ Shirogane Takashi; he couldn't help it. Shiro made him feel like a lovesick little schoolgirl at times.

"I think I should give you another lesson to take home with you to that handsome fiancee of yours," Shiro mumbled into Keith's ear as he nibbled at it. Keith turned his head, leaving his neck exposed for Shiro. Shiro didn't take the vulnerability lightly.

Shiro grabbed Keith by the throat and slammed his head into the wall, making Keith hiss and spin with dizziness. Something inside of him awoke, and even though Keith knew it wasn't the lesson Shiro was intending for him to learn, he understood what the threat meant. Even your best friend and lover could be out to kill you. Never leave yourself open.

"You going to do something about my disobedience, Sensei, or are you just going to stare at me with those big, hungry grey eyes?" Keith gasped out, and Shiro shook his head. "Such a slutty little one, aren't you, gakusei? I'll have to punish you or you'll never learn."

Keith gasped as Shiro tightened his grip slightly on the edges of Keith's neck, but he relaxed when he realized he could still breathe. Shiro took the breath out of him when he kissed Keith so desperately, so roughly, not taking his time and slow and loving like when they would share nights together in Keith's room or in Shiro's room alone. Keith knew Shiro must really be so eager this morning. He wouldn't normally get this rough unless he was going to be sending Keith away for a while.

Keith's eyes fluttered open as that thought crossed his mind, and he tried to stop Shiro by gently pushing at his chest. Shiro took both of Keith's hands in one of his though, and held them securely as he kissed Keith deeper, harder. Keith threw caution to the wind then, and jumped up to wrap his legs around Shiro's waist, knowing his sensei was strong enough to hold them both up. Shiro let go of Keith's hands then, and once he did, Keith dropped to the ground and pushed Shiro away from him with a sudden shove to his chest. Shiro stumbled back, but quickly and easily caught his balance.

He looked up at Keith, panting heavily, and Keith stepped through the water flow coming from the shower head as he slicked his hair back.

"I know you, Shiro," he panted. "where are you sending me away to this time?"

Shiro grinned. He could never fool Keith. "You're going to study with one of our oldest and best. A Blade by the name of Antok in the northwest side of the mountains."

"How long?"

"Two, three weeks. Maybe more depending on how quickly you progress forward, but I expect it shouldn't take too long."

Keith turned his head away. He hated when Shiro sent him away for so long, but he knew it was so he could be the best. He just had to trust in Shiro and hope that it would go by quickly.

~

Keith stared out the window as the Rubicon conquered edges and rocks like they were slick asphalt. He had been quiet the whole drive, just watching gravel fly from underneath the tires and flip by behind them. It wasn't going to be for as long as the last time, he told himself. He would work hard and train harder every single day, so that he could come back and make Shiro proud. He could do it. It was only a few weeks at the most.

Shiro finally pulled over, and when he did, a tall man with dark eyes stood in front of a long set of steps, waiting for them. He wore his wild, wavy black hair in a short ponytail, and a mask over his face where a scar over his left eye and crossing his nose disappeared into. He looked hardened, and under the standard training outfit he wore, he definitely was bigger than Keith.

This was not going to be easy.

Keith sighed as he stepped out of the car, looking up at the large man. It was obvious he was not dressed for training immediately; Keith was in white Vans, black joggers with belts and pockets galore, and a black t-shirt that read "SEME" in large white letters on it. The man didn't say anything about Keith's appearance, however, and just threw his sword, sheath and all, at Keith.

Shiro set down Keith's duffel bag next to him, and stood up to shake the large man's hand. "Thank you, Antok," he said. "Keith will do as you ask. Everything, right Keith?"

Keith made a face like something of a pout, but then he bowed and looked up at Antok. This man didn't scare him, but looking into his dark eyes definitely made Keith uneasy. "Yes, sensei," Keith answered, and Shiro left.

~

Keith tried to steady his breathing as he ran up the never-ending steps to the temple shirtless and holding the large sword he'd been handed day one across his shoulders. He hadn't been expecting the workout of his life, but instead, he had been expecting to be fighting endlessly with this man named Antok. He was getting tired pretty fast of this nonsense too; it didn't make any sense to him why he had to run like this all the way up the stairs to set the sword down, grab a large rock, carry the rock down, then run back up only to run back down, retrieve the rock, bring it back, take the sword, and do it all again. It was a pointless exercise that he did over and over, all day, for the last two weeks. He wondered when, if it would ever end.

When Keith finally reached the top, Antok held up a bowl of rice with chicken, and Keith kneeled in front of the large man to gratefully accept the bowl with his head bowed. He knew better; after getting slapped several times; than to just drop the sword and grab the bowl. That wasn't how Antok wanted him to handle things he received. Everything was a gift he should gratefully accept, and wait until it was placed before him to receive.

Antok pulled his own mask down to eat silently, and then Keith knew it was acceptable to set the sword down with care beside him and begin eating.

"Sensei, may I ask you a question?" Keith said, still panting softly. Antok stopped eating and looked up at Keith patiently. Keith knew that was his way of giving permission to speak; Antok was a man of few words; a monk or a mute, Keith wasn't sure, but he didn't think it was polite to ask.

"Sensei, when will you know if I am completed with my training here?" Keith asked. "I don't ask because I wish to disrespect you or go home. I just can't help but wonder what I am supposed to be learning."

Keith suddenly hissed as he felt a sharp stinging upon the side of his face that sent his head flying, and the next thing he knew, he was on the floor. He had been slapped for his ignorance. He didn't expect that, but he should've.

"My apologies, sensei," Keith said as he sat back upright. He didn't dare look at Antok. Antok watched Keith for a minute, then picked his bowl and chopsticks up once more to continue eating. Keith wasn't sure what he should do, though; he didn't want to be hit again, so he didn't touch his food, but he worried Antok would get offended if he didn't eat. Keith waited patiently for any kind of cue, and finally, he received it when Antok gently pushed Keith's bowl towards him.

Keith swallowed hard as he bowed his head gratefully; a hand raised in his direction, and Keith braced for another slap, but instead of a slap, Antok gently set his hand on Keith's shoulder and squeezed.

It reminded Keith of Shiro when he would tell Keith he was proud of him.

Antok was proud.

~

Keith woke up that morning expecting to go running up and down the stairs again as he had been for the last two weeks, but instead, Antok led him to the front of the temple instead, and patted the space next to him when he sat down to gesture that he wanted Keith to sit with him. Keith obeyed, keeping his head bowed until Antok gently grabbed Keith's chin and lifted his head, pointing towards the sky. Keith's eyes almost bulged out of his head.

It was early in the morning, so the sun was barely beginning to rise, peeking out over the horizon at them. When Keith looked where Antok was pointing, however, he could still see the night sky, the stars, and the glory of colors mixing and washing together like a watercolor artist's dream. It was indescribable.

"That is where they rest," Antok said in a heavy accent; it spooked Keith and the boy had to stare hard at Antok and wait for him to speak again just to make sure it was the man's voice he heard.

"It's rude to stare."

"Apologies, sensei," Keith said, and jerked his head back down. It took another moment for him to build the courage to look up back into the sky, and he took in a deep breath of cool morning air.

"Who do you mean by they, sensei?"

"My family. Lost them years ago to a fire. My son would be your age today."

"I...I'm sorry for your loss, sensei."

"Never look back, Keith, or you will get stuck in the past. But never forget."

"Y-yes, sensei."

The rest of that morning was spent in silence as the two watched the stars until the sky faded into glowing orange, red, and baby blue hues.

~

"Again," Antok said through his mask, and Keith used all his might to focus. He was sweating profusely, more than he had in his life, but he would persevere. He would not disappoint. Keith straightened his hand out and pressed his fingertips to the wooden board, then he put all the force of his body into the short swing to the wood. His bloody knuckles collided with the wood over and over at this, shredding his skin and painting the wood with blood, but he never quit. He never let up. Finally, the 6x4x3 block of wood splintered, and with a final, determined punch, it gave and snapped straight into pieces, flying across the floor of the temple.

Keith laughed in triumph, not being able to fight the grin that spread across his face. He had been working that lone piece of wood for over three hours, and finally, he was able to break it. Keith took a deep breath of relief, but it was short lived. Antok placed a brick down in place of the wood, and Keith looked unamused at Antok.

"You gotta be fucking kidding me," he said.

~

Keith nearly collapsed with relief at seeing Shiro's Rubicon pull up later that day. He had shattered a block of wood, a brick, a slab of concrete block, and even bent a piece of rebar enough to splinter it down the sides. He had run up and down a set of stairs for two weeks straight, and he had been through hours and hours of rigorous abuse. But he knew finally why he was there. The point Antok was trying to put across was patience, and discipline would be the key. He had to learn that he needed to go through the worst he could go through, and be patient through it, so that he could calmly and effectively defeat his enemies. He had proudly walked down the steps with the earned title of Black Mamba, the silent, deadly killer.

Keith picked up his bag and turned to face Antok for what he hoped wouldn't be the last time. The two exchanged no words, but instead, Keith bowed low to the larger man, and he grinned when Antok bowed his head back in respect.

Respect.

Keith turned to eagerly hop into the Rubicon and prepared to tell Shiro everything he had learned and gone through, but his smile fell and the bag in his hands dropped with a thud to the ground as he looked inside the vehicle.

~

Keith sat down next to Shiro's bed silently, staring at the empty bed. He couldn't believe it. He really couldn't believe it. All that time, he was eager to get back to Shiro, ready to come home and run into his arms, but he would never be able to do that again. Someone had stolen all of that from him. Keith got up and walked calmly down the stairs of the dojo to the front porch, past all the blood and the bodies that were getting cleaned up and hauled away. His head pounded and the world spun slowly around him; time slowed to almost a halt. He couldn't hear the men yelling anymore. He couldn't hear the birds anymore. He didn't feel the wind blow through his hair in a reminder of that morning he had spent with Shiro.

If only. If only he had known. If only he had kissed Shiro more that morning he left; if only he had trained harder so he could come home in time and be there when this would've happened.

If only.

Keith grit his teeth and balled his fists. He couldn't do this. Not without Shiro.

What was he supposed to do now?

Keith's head jerked up as two men carried Shiro's body away, and Keith stood up to stop them. The men didn't fight him; they knew everything, and they let Keith grab Shiro and just hold him for a minute. He buried his face in the crook of Shiro's neck. Shame on his sensei for letting him do so. What Keith would give for Shiro to open his eyes and attack Keith right now. Scold him on what a fool he was making of himself. He'd give his own life if Shiro would just wake up and look at him.

"Wake up," Keith whispered into Shiro's ear. "wake up, Takashi. Wake up."

The two men took Shiro from Keith then, and everything slowed down once more as Keith screamed into the skies and dropped to his knees. He punched his fists into the dirt, clawing desperately at it just to feel something that felt worse than losing Shiro. He couldn't take losing Shiro right now.

Someone must've grabbed him at some point, because Keith was on his feet again and there was something touching him and guiding him towards the outdoor shower.

Antok. Keith didn't see him, but he didn't have to. He could smell the man's sharp cologne and recognize it anywhere. He'd lived with that smell for the last month.

Water hit Keith's face, and with a loud gasp, Keith came back down, and let out a loud cry as his legs failed him. Antok held onto him, though, and with a careful hand, he washed the teen clean of the dirt, blood, sweat and tears.

~

Keith lay on the floor in Shiro's empty bedroom that night, staring up at the ceiling. Antok was laying next to him, staring as well, but silent. Keith didn't say anything since he had a mental breakdown in front of his sensei, but he couldn't care less. Antok could be judging him right this very second and Keith wouldn't care.

"What is your plan, gakusei?" Antok finally asked, and Keith took every bit of energy he had left to open his mouth and speak.

"Find the murderers, and kill them all in cold blood, as they did to Shiro."

"I know. But you need a plan. You spent the last month with me learning better than to just run up with a sword and plunge it into a murderer's throat."

Oh, that would feel as good as it sounded.

"I need to hunt like the Black Mamba," Keith answered. "silent, stalking, waiting, and then strike."

"Good. You'll need weapons."

"I don't need more than one sword."

"Do you know a blacksmith?"

"No. I wasn't supposed to receive a sword until I graduated."

Antok got up then, and held his hand out to help Keith up. Keith started to reach for Antok's hand, but then he stopped. He dropped his hand instead, and did a kip up to get onto his feet. Antok grinned underneath his mask. Keith had learned well.

~

Keith stood in front of the tall wooden door and stared at the kanji written on it for a good minute. He was ready, he knew he had to be. He had no other choice. He had to avenge Shiro. This was what all his training was for. But was he ready to take lives for this? To become a murderer like them?

He didn't have a choice.

Once he came face-to-face with them, it was kill or be killed.

Keith pushed the tall door open, and stepped into a tiny, quaint tea shop. It wasn't at all what he was expecting. This man was supposed to be a swordsmith?

"May I help you?" An older man standing at the counter asked Keith, and Keith shoved his hands into his sleeveless hoodie's pockets as he sat down at the counter.

"A Japanese blossom tea, if you please," he said. "dry."

The man turned and made the tea for Keith, then set the small cup down in front of him. Keith embraced the cup with his head bowed and both hands, but hesitated to take a sip. The man must've caught on by then, because he narrowed his eyes at Keith.

"I don't do that anymore."

"Shirogane Takashi is dead," Keith said, then took a sip of the tea. "as are about a dozen others. I need to find their murderers."

The man opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it.

"I'm just a boy?" Keith asked, taking another sip of his tea. "is that what you were going to say?"

"I was indeed. But you act like you've trained with a dear, old friend. And no boy is capable of surviving his training."

"Are we exchanging pleasantries, or are we negotiating what it's going to take you get you to make me my sword?"

The man chuckled at this, and then he grabbed a stool to sit down across from Keith. "you are a very unique man, indeed. How old are you?"

"I'm to be 18 this next full moon."

"Almost a true man in age and spirit. What do they call you, son?"

"Kogane."

"Well, Kogane, I am Kolivan. It is nice to meet you."

"The sword, Kolivan."

"I'm afraid, as I've told you before, I don't do make swords anymore."

Keith jerked his head up and opened his mouth to say something, but Kolivan stopped him. "I don't make swords anymore. I didn't say I don't still keep them."

~

Keith looked around the attic filled with more swords than he'd seen in his life curiously. Kolivan just stood and watched as Keith touched one after another, glanced at some swords, or lifted a couple to test their weight and swing. He didn't seem happy about any of them until he came upon a pitch black sword with a winding snake going down the blade of the sword, and the teen picked it up off its' display. He held it for a minute, and then he turned to Kolivan.

"You have good taste," Kolivan said. "that one I made when you must've been just a tot. It has seen more blood than you probably will on this quest."

"Oh I doubt that," Keith said. "I very much do."

Kolivan was silent for a moment, and then he stepped up to Keith. "Are you sure about this?"

"More than anything in my life."

"Then take the sword. Consider it a gift. But heed my warning. Murder is an addictive chemical. It's just like drugs or alcohol. You get used to it, and you start to crave it more and more. I've seen samurai chop off their own hands in madness over murder. You don't want to go down that road at such a young age because you'll have such a long time to live with the guilt, and the haunting. But I cannot stop you if you are determined."

"Thank you," Keith said as he bowed, and he turned to leave. He paused as he started down the stairs however, and he turned to Kolivan.

"How many have you killed, sensei?"

Kolivan smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I'll see you when you get back."

~

Keith drove the Rubicon way faster and way more roughly over the gravel than he ever saw Shiro do, but he was too well-trained in reflexes to let it flip or fall off the mountain. He was prepared.

He was ready.

He pulled over and engaged the emergency brake as he came upon the temple where he had trained and loved one final time, and stepped inside silently. Everything had been cleaned and removed, and that that was broken inside in the struggle, was all replaced. Everything but Keith's heart.

Keith glanced around the temple, looking for anything that could possibly help him. He had to find something, some kind of lead that would take him somewhere. The murderers would've had to leave a trace somewhere.

He finally caught a break when something glistening underneath a table caught his eye, and Keith leaned down to pick it up and examine it. The object was metallic, a bit rusted, and shiny-a piece of a sword. Keith smiled sadly as he realized that this piece of sword had to have come from the enemies attacking Shiro. Only that man could shatter somebody's sword like this.

Keith's eyes suddenly widened. The sword shattered. Which means-

Keith ran his hands all around and along the floorboards and baseboard, trying to find more pieces of the sword. If it had shattered, there would be more pieces of it around somewhere, and he'd find them in the grooves of the floor. If he could piece what was left together, he could get a feel for where the weapon was made, and thusly, who it belonged to.

It was pure luck in his favor that he found another piece of sword, and when he picked it up, he saw something engraved in the metal. It was small, but it was a sure sign that there was no way he'd mistake it: a shard of diamond.

~

Keith raced as fast as he could down the mountain and into town. He knew exactly who his first victim was already, and if it killed him, he was going to find them, one way or another.

Keith slowed down and came to a stop in front of one suburban household in the middle of town; there was a large set of red kanjis on a light-up sign on top of the house. It was a medical clinic of some kind; as far as Keith could tell; and the man that ran it was the only man in that area that would know a thing or two about the syncopate that infused diamonds into their swords. He had a feeling he knew already who it would be within that group that would wield such a sword, but he knew he had to be sure.

Keith jumped out of the Jeep as soon as he saw the lights flicker off, and then with the agility of a cat, he climbed up the side of the house and into an unlocked window on the second floor. Two girls inside slept in separate beds, each no older than eight years. He had to be careful; he was a snake, which meant he was silent, stealthy. He would work his way through the house room by room to find the man he needed.

Finally, he came upon a bedroom where a man easily twice his age slept, and with a low growl, he crept up to the man, and held his blade to the man's throat. The man awoke with a start, and Keith slapped a hand over his mouth to silence him.

"I'm going to remove my hand," Keith said quietly. "you're going to tell me about someone that would've come in in the last two or three days with wounds from a blade. Anyone. I need names and addresses, and I need them now, or I can drag you into the room with those beautiful daughters you have and slaughter the three of you in front of each other."

The man nodded quickly with wide eyes, and Keith slowly removed his hand. "There's a registry with the names of every person that comes through here and their records downstairs in the main lobby by the front desk. That will have all the information you seek."

Keith tucked his sword back into its' sheath, and got off the man. "Thank you," he said, and then just as Keith turned to leave, he heard the faint click of a gun.

Keith dropped to the ground just fast enough to get a hot, sharp cut from the graze of a bullet against his right cheek. Hissing in pain, Keith leaped back to his feet, and instinct took over. Another second later, Keith was covered in blood and his sword was poised away from the man's neck. The man choked only for a minute, and then his head slid off his severed neck and rolled onto the ground.

Keith hurried down the stairs and snatched the book the man spoke of, along with disinfectant and bandages for his wound. He paused for a second, then grabbed a bag and filled it with more medical supplies. If this was what he'd been exposed to after seeking just a little information, he would need more supplies for what lay ahead.

~

Keith sped towards the next town, not stopping to eve n take a break to sleep or piss. He'd been starved, deprived of breaks, sleep, and everything in between while doing his training with Antok, so it wasn't anything he wasn't used to. He just needed to get to the first man before he vanished forever.

Well, she.

Ezor was her given name, and she was one of the ones in the book that Keith had found with wounds from a sword of the Blades. He wasn't sure what to expect when he got there, but he did note from all the different address written in her files that she liked to bounce around often, so if her primary address was empty, he'd lose her forever. Keith screeched into a halt in the driveway, and raced inside of the house as quickly as he could. He still had the cover of the dark, but he knew he was being a bit reckless with the way he was rushing in like he did.

He kicked the first bedroom door he saw open, and sliced into the bed. Feathers.

He went to the next room, and same thing. Feathers.

At the third room, however, he saw a form in the bed, and held his sword steady in his hand. This was it. He plunged his sword down into the bed, but to his surprise, once again, feathers floated everywhere. He grunted in frustration, and then suddenly, he heard the slicing of a blade connecting with flesh, and felt the warmth down his back in an almost perfect X.

Keith hissed in pain and whirled around to block the sword swinging at his throat just in time. A woman with hair like the sun and eyes like the grass glared hard at him, her sword trembling as she struggled to match his strength. "Who are you!?" she growled out, and Keith grinned.

"Your worst nightmare."

He ducked just as he twisted his sword, letting Ezor finish her swing into empty air. The weight suddenly threw her off, and she fell forward in front of Keith as her sword slipped from her hands and slid across the wood floor. Keith wasted no time in plunging his sword through her heart, but as she choked on her own blood, he looked into her eyes.

"Where are the others?" he asked, and she grinned wide, her teeth stained as orange as her hair. She went limp like that, and Keith pulled his sword from her chest and wiped it on her clothes. He then dug through her closets and kitchen, and took a pack of waters he had found. It wasn't much, but it would last him long enough to survive a while without food.

He had to stay focused and move fast, because he knew that it wouldn't be long before the others found out that he was onto them.

~

The next house was much more remote, and it took a lengthy battle of about an hour and a half with a woman the size of a dump truck attacking him before he could lift his sword. It was amazing, really, how fast this massive woman could move, and Keith had thought he'd met his superior until she slipped on a puddle of water in the bathroom and ended up splitting her head open against the porcelain sink.

Keith scoffed at his own luck.

He sat quietly in the Jeep in front of the next house, wrapping his wounds and hoping that his cheek wouldn't swell to the point where he'd be blinded. He was a Blade. Weakness was not acceptable, and in his state with two broken ribs, a sliced right cheek, bruised left cheek, busted lip and bloody knuckles, he really didn't think he would have much energy left if this next target was as large as his last. He saw her first in the window, and her shadow was dancing around to what he assumed was her probably preparing for bed.

A squirt of water in his face later, Keith slid quietly out of the car, and stalked into the house. He didn't have as much luck this time, though, because he quickly learned that while this woman was blind, she was very far from deaf. Every little movement he made she knew his attack, and blocked it with a few added punches or kicks of her own. Finally, Keith was on the floor, coughing up blood and panting as the woman hovered over him. She straddled his waist, and he did the only thing he could think to do before she took his life: talk his way out of it.

"Why did you kill him?" Keith asked. "just grant me this before I join him. Why?" The woman certainly heard Keith, he knew, because she paused, but she didn't answer him for a moment. Instead, she motioned Keith to lean in, and when he did, she leaned in a bit too until he could feel her breath tickle his lips. She just smiled and giggles, however, and Keith didn't hesitate.

He shoved the sheath of his sword into her mouth and through her skull, then kicked her body aside.

Keith coughed a bit more as he lay there on the ground for a moment, gasping for breath. He knew he had to get out of the house very soon, but since he had already killed three of Shiro's murders without skipping a beat, he figured he earned a moment's rest. He looked up at the ceiling, just staring silently for a moment. The sound of his own pants filled his ears, and then a memory came creeping forward from the deepest recesses of his mind.

~

Keith panted heavily as he raised the wooden sword in his hand once more, but then his arms gave out and he dropped it. "Not good enough, gakusei," Shiro said from behind Keith. "again." "I can't, sensei," Keith said, on the verge of passing out. "I can't." Keith flinched when Shiro approached him. He was ready for the slap, but it never came.

Instead, Shiro scooped Keith into his arms, and carried the teen to the showers. "Easy, my love. I've got you, now. It's alright," Shiro soothed, kissing Keith's head as he washed the teen's body. "I've got you. You're dehydrated. You've not been sleeping, haven't you, Keith?"

"Not well, sensei," Keith admitted. "I've been having nightmares again."

"What of, my dear?"

"Losing you. Losing myself. Losing everything."

"Keith, I'm not going anywhere," Shiro promised. "I will never leave you."

~

Shiro had broken his promise, Keith thought. He'd broken his promise and left Keith with a torn soul. He would never be the same again.

Keith rolled over and struggled to his feet, but managed all the same. He stumbled out to the car, and just barely made it out of town before he managed to pull over in his exhausted state and pass out in the car on the side of the road.

~

When Keith woke up that morning, it was to the sound of the birds, and he saw the same sky he had seen that morning with Antok. He looked up at the stars through the sunroof, and smiled weakly.

"I'll find them, Shiro. I'll find them all so you can have peace in the next life. I swear this."

He sat upright with a groan, cracking his neck and stretching to get the sore feeling in his back to go away. He would have a crick in his neck for the rest of the drive, but there was nothing he could do about that. There was no way he could stop now. He was almost through. Just two more and he would be done.

What would he do once he got his revenge?

Antok had asked him that same question, and he had no answer then, just as he did now. He had no idea, if he was being honest with himself. There was no life without Shiro, so would he even want to live when all of this was over?

~

Keith panted heavily as he pulled his blade from the throat of the last woman. A girl with short blue hair and bright blue eyes, but nothing to be lax around either, she was a special kind of dangerous for her ability to distract her opponents. Keith had surely been distracted, because he had a deep gash in his abdomen from where she'd nearly cut his heart right out.

Just one more. Just one more and then all of this would be over, Keith told himself. He really needed a nap. One quick rest, and then he would be ready for the next soul. He had to be ready, after all, because if he faced the next and final murderer in his current state, he'd die on the spot, and that wasn't an option.

~

Keith awoke sometime in the early morning to the sound of rain against the car window, and when he glanced at his watch, he was a bit upset to see he had lost almost a whole day. He was feeling a bit better, though, and after a snack and some water he would be ready.

Keith crunched into the salad he had stolen from the last girl's house with disdain. He hated salad, and never understood the fad behind it. People who ate salad were evil, torturous people in his opinion, and were insane for thinking salad was an acceptable meal. In no sense of any world was salad ever an acceptable meal, Keith thought to himself, and he even said so as he stuffed a forkful of ranch-drenched lettuce and tomato into his mouth.

At least the ranch made it bearable.

Keith took down the last of his water when he had finished eating. He would need to be fully hydrated for this next fight, because he knew he had lost so much precious hydration after sweating over the last four kills. It wasn't going to be easy to go for so long without water or food after this, but Keith had three to five days before he really dropped dead at full health on a full belly. Half of that, and partially injured with about a litre or so of blood loss, and he had about two days before he dropped dead in reality.

He wasn't expecting what he saw at the next house when he reached it however, and kept on his toes. It was massive, for one, and it seemed like whoever lived in this house held something of a high position in the Hunters' syncopate if they were this well off. It didn't take a genius to know what this man had to do to get this rank, either.

Keith gripped his sword tight as he entered the house and walked almost immediately into a large room like a training room, but his uneasiness came from the voice behind him.

"Why do you look so scared, Kit?" a man asked, and Keith whipped around to come face-to-face with a tall, lean man. He had long white hair that was pulled back into a bun, oceanic blue eyes, and pale skin, but he looked far from harmless.

Keith withdrew his sword and held it up, glaring hard at the man. The man only chuckled, and waved his hand. "No need for that now, Kit. Come. I know why you're here and what you want. Come."

Keith was skeptical and wary of this man. He didn't want to go anywhere with him or do anything he said, but all the same, this man piqued his curiosity. Who exactly was he?

"You may call me Lotor," the man introduced himself. "I already know who you are, Kit, and I am well-aware of why you're here."

"Is that so?" Keith asked as he followed Lotor into the next room, but the sight before him when the doors opened took his breath away.

There in bed and getting pampered as if he was King of the World, was Shiro. Keith couldn't believe his eyes.

"Shocked?" Lotor asked. "you should be.

"You see Keith, when a man with your promise comes into a clan such as the Blades of Marmora, there is an agreement made between the heads of the clans in Okinawa that this man should become the head of said clan. In order to test his strength and power, however, the man must go through a great loss first. Of course, you exceeded our expectations greatly, and even proved that you are more than capable as the Head of the Blades of Marmora. However, you think that your last kill to enact this rite of passage should be me, but that's where you're mistaken, Kit. Your last kill shall be Shirogane Takashi, your mentor, your sensei, your lover, and the current Head of the Blades of Marmora. Then and only then can you take your place at the top. So what do you say, Black Mamba? Want to graduate? Just slit the throat of the love of your life."

Shiro looked up at Keith as the teen stared on with wide, teary eyes of horror. It was like seeing a ghost right before his eyes, but he knew this was real.

And he was supposed to kill Shiro now that he knew Shiro was alive?

"What...what is this..." Keith said in an almost whisper. "I don't understand."

"Maybe he's not ready," Shiro said to Lotor, and Lotor shook his head. "no. He's not. If he was, he wouldn't have hesitated to take your head off for betraying and lying to him."

"Lying, Shiro?" Keith cried. "lying!? Lying about what!?"

"His love for you, of course," Lotor answered, and Keith held his sword at Lotor.

"No. Shut up. I want to hear it from him. Shiro? What is this? What is he saying? What does he mean you lied to me?"

Shiro sighed and leaned forward in his seat. "I don't love you, Keith. I never did. All that we did and went through together was just a-"

Shiro didn't get to finish his sentence, because at that moment, Keith had slit his throat. "Whoa!" Lotor laughed. "you did it! Awesome! I didn't think you had it in you, but you truly are a Black Mamba! Just a silent, cold little killer, aren't you?"

Keith turned and sliced Lotor's head clean off with his blade, silencing him forever. He didn't want to hear it anymore. He didn't want to be lied to anymore. He was weak, and he couldn't take it anymore.

Keith stepped outside of the house slowly, limping as he did. His wounds were fast catching up with him, and there wasn't much left he could do about it as he collapsed into the soft, cold snow at his feet.

_"Heed my warning. Murder is an addictive chemical. It's just like drugs or alcohol. You get used to it, and you start to crave it more and more. I've seen samurai chop off their own hands in madness over murder. You don't want to go down that road at such a young age because you'll have such a long time to live with the guilt, and the haunting._"

~

Keith woke up in the snow just a few hours later, and he glanced up at the sky. It was lightly snowing, and he was going to die of hypothermia very soon if he didn't get to the car and get some warmth.

Keith groaned loudly in pain as he struggled to his feet and limped into the Jeep. By some miracle, he made it in, and trembled with the cold as he turned the car over and kicked the heater on full blast. He waited until he could feel his fingers again to drive, making his way back to his home town on the mountain. He made no effort to speed, he didn't drive recklessly as he had before. He was in no hurry to get his life over with as he was before.

_ "What will you do once all this is over?" Kolivan asked, and Keith shrugged. He had no idea._

Except he knew now. Move on. Keith would go on living his life, and he would never look back at the past again, but he would never forget, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently, there was a glitch with the chapter. I'm really upset about it, because I lost the entire thing at first. I got lucky that I made the decision to copy everything, but when I pasted it, it goofed everything up. If you guys just viewed this as one big paragraph, I'm really really sorry, I'm trying to fix this cause I worked way too hard on this to let it go to shit like this.

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter was in part thanks to a roleplay I used to do with someone. They helped me develop the idea and make it into a story, but I hope you thoroughly enjoyed reading anyway, and stay tuned for the next chapter. I will probably post day to day if I can, but I plan to do the full 31 days at least by the end of the month, so favorite/follow/like or do whatever you gotta do if you wanna stay updated. Special thanks to my friend Rose for being my everyday muse and for encouraging me to be the best writer I can be. 
> 
> Extra info for your benefit:
> 
> The injury Adam sustained is called a subarachnoid hemorrage. It's what happens when you sustain a fall such as he did, and the symptoms include headache, dizziness and vomiting. If you or anyone you know suffered any kind of head injury, please do not attempt to move the person or do anything the paladins did in this chapter. Leave the person as they are, check to make sure they are responsive, and call 911 right away. if the person is unresponsive, do not move them or touch them, as this could make their injury worse. Simply tell the 911 operator everything, and they will instruct you on what to do.
> 
> Adam is an EMS technician, or, in shorter words, a paramedic. EMS stands for Emergency Medical Services. 
> 
> Shiro is a Major in the Marine Corps. He is on leave during the period of the story, and his friends are mostly all enlisted in the military. 
> 
> In Lance's accident, again, do not move the person or attempt to help them move in any way. Get the license plate of the car if you can, and call 911 right away. Tell the 911 operator on the phone everything and they will instruct you on what to do. Stay safe out there, kiddos.


End file.
